Chill Out
by Sand-wolf579
Summary: "Look, a Squip is like a supercomputer implanted in your brain. It tells you what to do, what to say. I'm your Squip. It's my job to influence your behavior to be the way it should be." Before becoming a time traveler, Cavendish had never even heard of a Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor, or 'Squip', and now he had one for a partner.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This story is inspired and influenced by the musical Be More Chill. It's not necessary to be familiar with the show or book before reading this, but it might make things more clear from the very start. For those who are already familiar with Be More Chill, be aware that in this story Squips can be seen and heard by everybody, not just their host, though they still only have influence over someone they're connected to.**

 **Also, the specific inspiration behind this idea (Dakota being a Squip) comes from an animatic of the song Be More Chill Part 1 (yes, the song actually has part 1 as part of its title. Just go with it). This specific animatic, created by Youtuber Spectral-Sketch722, just so happens to have a Squip design that looks a lot like Dakota (the curly hair, shaded glasses, half closed eyes), so shout out to that creator and their video, because that's what sparked this idea in the first place.**

* * *

Cavendish wrote the final word of his final essay and sighed in relief as he put his pencil down. That was it, after twenty long cycles of studying time travel, he was all done with his training. He was a time traveler now...well, not officially. All of his exams and essays needed to be graded. And then there was all of that paperwork that needed to go through, and the background checks. But other than that, he was a time traveler, at last.

Cavendish proudly stood up and handed his papers to the supervising time traveler. He knew that his work was quite a few pages longer than what they had asked for, but he believed that it was always better to be thorough. The supervisor didn't even look at the paper, she just put it on her desk. She then picked up an identification card and handed it to him.

"Congratulations, Agent Cavendish, you're a time traveler," The supervisor said boredly, as though she wasn't the least bit interested in what she was saying. Cavendish didn't care about her lack of enthusiasm, he was too excited to finally be an agent. "You are to make your way to the labs."

"Thank you," Cavendish looked at his Bureau of Time Travel card identifying him as a third-class agent. It was the lowest ranking in the bureau, but that was alright. Cavendish could make his way up the ranks. After staring at his card for a moment he looked up in slight surprise as he realized something. "Wait a moment, I thought my work needed to be assessed and-"

"It was graded in the future and they sent word back," The supervisor said in annoyance as she turned back to her own paperwork. "You've been approved, and now you need to go to the labs to get your partner."

"My partner?" Cavendish blinked in slight surprise. "Why would they be in the labs?" The agents who worked in the labs weren't field agents, they didn't leave the labs. Why would his partner be in the labs? Were they a scientist? "I'm afraid I don't understand-"

"You'll understand when you get there," The supervisor said tiredly, like she had said this same thing hundreds of times. "Now get going," She was clearly tired of all his questions, but that was alright. Cavendish was an agent now, it was his job to do what he was told without questioning his superiors. He just had to consider this as another test.

"Of course," Cavendish tipped his hat in appreciation and left the room. He couldn't stop grinning broadly. This was the proudest moment of his life. He finally had a chance to prove himself, to save the world. Show others just how great he could be.

But first, he needed to meet his new partner.

Cavendish walked, head held high, towards the labs. He may not know who he was about to meet, but he couldn't wait to get started.

Cavendish made his way to the labs, or at least tried to. Headquarters was a very large place, and while Cavendish had been in training he hadn't gotten the chance to see very much of it. He'd memorized the maps, but everything looked different in real life. Cavendish took a wrong turn at one point, and then just got even more lost as he tried to find his way again.

After nearly half an hour of wandering aimlessly around headquarters Cavendish finally found his way to the labs. Deep down he knew that he had just gotten lucky, to have gotten so lost that he ended up in the very place that he had been trying to get to, but he still felt a sense of accomplishment.

Cavendish opened the door to the lab and saw all of the other new agents who had finished their essays before him, as well as another man that he had never seen before waiting impatiently for something, possibly him. Cavendish closed the door behind him and sheepishly made his way to join the other new agents.

"I still don't understand why we have to be here," The man said moodily. It seemed like the man was addressing them, but he was glaring to his side. "We're first-class agents, it shouldn't be our job to teach these amateurs,"

"One, we're not teaching them," Cavendish jumped, startled, when a finely dressed young woman seemed to appear out of nowhere. "We're introducing them to their partners, that's it. Two, it _is_ your job to do what your told."

"But it's so degrading," The man practically whined.

" _Stop,"_ The young woman said, and Cavendish could hear a kind of power in her words. The other man's mouth snapped closed. He glared fiercely at the young woman, whose brown eyes seemed to flash bright purple for a moment. "What have I told you about complaining? If you want people to take you seriously, you need to act like somebody worth respecting."

The two of them stared at each other for a few tense moments before the young woman's eyes went back to their regular brown. The man crossed his arms. "You know I hate it when you do that."

"I'll stop as soon as you stop doing things wrong." The woman said. She turned towards Cavendish and the other agents, an impatient but not unkind look on her face. "You're the last new agent here."

"Well, I got lost," Cavendish said sheepishly. "And it took me longer than expected to write my essay." He couldn't help but be intimidated by this young woman, it felt as though she was looking into his very mind. He had to try very hard to not let his slight fear show. "I wanted to be sure to write as much as I could."

The other man huffed in annoyance "Time travelers need to know how to work quickly." The young woman gave the man a quick look, and he reluctantly backed down.

"It's also important for a time traveler to be thorough," She turned to Cavendish and held her hand out to him. "They call me Savannah," She gestured to the man close to her. "That is the partner I'm stuck with, Brick."

"Balthazar Cavendish," He took Savannah's hand and shook it. "So, uh, may I ask what we're all doing here?"

Savannah smirked and nodded to Brick, who rolled his eyes, at least, he began to. He stopped mid eyeroll, unfolded his arms, and stood up straight. "You're here to get your partners." Brick turned and grabbed a box that looked like a glorified shoebox. Cavendish didn't know why the B.o.T.T. had a box like this, but he believed that he was about to find out.

Brick opened the box and approached the new agents, showing them the contents inside. Cavendish raised a confused eyebrow when he saw that the box was full of gray, oblong pills.

"What are those?" Cavendish asked, and one glance confirmed that the other new agents were as confused as he was.

"They are Super Quantum Unit Intel Processors, otherwise known as a Squip." Brick said as he looked over at Savannah. "Each of you will have a one"

"But what are they?" Cavendish asked.

Brick let out a slow sigh. "Look, whatever I tell you, you won't believe me, so just take the pill and do what you're told."

"Trust me," Savannah looked at Cavendish, her eyes flashing purple again. "Everything will make sense once you have your Squip."

"And you can't be an agent unless you have one," Brick picked up a pill and shoved it into Cavendish's hand. "So take the stupid pill." Brick moved on to hand out pills to the other agents. Cavendish eyed it warily, but when he saw the others taking it, he reluctantly put it in his mouth and swallowed it. The pill tasted like nothing, and Cavendish didn't feel any effects, good or bad, and pills in the future had a tendency to work immediately, so he was a little confused.

"What...was that supposed to do something?" Cavendish asked.

"The Squip has to be activated." Savannah said. She handed him a green bottle of soda. "Drink this, and you'll understand everything."

Cavendish accepted the bottle and examined it. The bottle didn't seem to be tampered with. And though Cavendish rarely drank soda, he recognized the brand. It was something that had been really popular in the past. He opened the lid of the soda and reluctantly took a sip. He barely resisted the urge to spit the small amount of soda out. It was much too sweet for his tastes. Cavendish didn't want to take more than was necessary, and when he put the lid back on the soda and Savannah gave him a small nod, he knew that the small sip had been enough.

Once they all had drank the soda, Savannah muttered something under her breath. Her eyes flashed purple again, and Cavendish began to wonder what it meant. The strange coloring was gone just as suddenly as it had shown up. "Your initiation is done, and soon all of you will be given your assignments."

"Unfortunately, your Squips are connected to mine," Brick glared in annoyance at Savannah. "If you absolutely need help, they can contact each other...please don't need help." With those last words, Brick and Savannah left the lab. Cavendish and the other new agents exchanged confused glances. They hadn't been assigned their partners. They had just been given a strange pill and some soda.

"Well, this has been an odd and stressful day," Cavendish straightened his vest. "I don't know about you lot, but I'm going to go prepare for my first assignment." He tipped his hat at his fellow agents and turned sharply to follow Brick and Savannah's lead. Just as he put his hand on the doorknob he felt a pain in his head that was so sudden and sharp that he yelled out in pain and clutched at his forehead.

"Stay," A voice that he had never heard before said clearly, almost right in his ear. He turned and didn't see anybody there, and none of the other new agents were even paying him any mind. After a moment Cavendish shrugged and walked out the door. The second he was back in the hallway, his legs gave out slightly.

Cavendish put a hand against the wall to steady himself. He didn't know what had happened to his legs so suddenly. It was as though they just decided to stop working right. Cavendish's legs weren't in pain or numb, they just weren't doing what he wanted them to do. He hoped that this was just temporary, because he didn't know what he would do if this sudden paralysis was a permanent thing.

After nearly five minutes of his legs betraying him, the door to the labs opened and the rest of the new agents came out, talking casually with each other. They walked right past him and went down the hall in the way opposite of where he had been planning on going himself.

"They look like they're having fun," That same voice that he had heard before seemed to say in his head. "Why don't you see what they're talking about? You might make some friends." Just as suddenly as Cavendish's legs had worked up, they started working again. Cavendish straightened and frowned when he felt a strong urge to follow the other agents.

"I'm not here to make friends," Cavendish said to himself. He adjusted his hat and made his way down the hall, away from the others. The pain in his head from earlier returned, even more fiercely than before.

"Really, Cavendish?" He jumped when he felt a touch on his arm that shocked him slightly. He turned to see a younger, shorter man with unkempt hair and a mischievous smirk standing next to him when he certainly hadn't been there before. "You've finally become an agent, and you think the best thing to do is study some more? You should hang out with the other agents. Having friends in the bureau could come in handy someday."

"I don't need friends," Cavendish huffed. "And I don't remember asking for you opinion." He eyed the other man's casual clothing and darkened glasses. He certainly didn't look like an agent. "Who are you, anyways?"

The younger man chuckled in amusement. "Yeah, sorry, I guess you're not too trusting of strangers, are you? Don't worry, we'll fix that."

Cavendish raised his eyebrows. "Excuse me?" Cavendish wasn't used to being spoken to so casually, especially not by somebody who was a complete stranger.

The younger man grinned, and Cavendish noticed for the first time that one of his eyes were brown, and the other was a shade of orange that was even brighter than the clothing that he wore. Cavendish was unnerved to see what looked like a literal spark in the orange eye, giving it an almost glowing effect. "It's good to meet you, Balthazar Cavendish. I'm your Squip."

Cavendish felt suddenly ill as he looked at the stranger in front of him. "I'm sorry, you're my...what?"

"Squip," The man, Squip, whatever he was, said. "You know, a Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor."

"That...that pill they gave me," Cavendish said breathlessly while he tried to work through what he was hearing, what he was thinking. "What...what is it? What are _you_?"

The younger man sighed and put his hands in his pockets. "Man, you can't just go around asking people what they are. But you know what? You're freaked out, I get it, so I'll give it a pass this time."

"What are you talking about?" Cavendish took a step away from the so-called Squip. "Would you begin explaining things?"

The Squip frowned and his orange eye flashed. Cavendish's breath caught in his throat and his hair stood on end. "I'll explain things just as soon as you let me, so would you just be quiet for a minute?"

Cavendish tried to open his mouth, but found himself unable to. So he just bit the inside of his cheek and nodded. The Squip nodded. "Great, thanks. Look, a Squip is like a supercomputer implanted in your brain. It tells you what to do, what to say. I'm your Squip. It's my job to influence your behavior to be the way it should be." When his words were out the Squip relaxed, and Cavendish felt the force that was keeping him silent disappear.

"You...did you just silence me?" Cavendish didn't know whether to be afraid, furious, or impressed. This was some advanced technology, even for the future.

"I didn't want to, but it's not like you left me much of a choice." The Squip shrugged, and Cavendish marveled at the fact that this strange man was actually a supercomputer. "I had to get you to listen to me _somehow._ "

"Well, next time I would appreciate it if you would find another way of being heard," Cavendish crossed his arms indignantly. "I do not like being controlled."

The orange eye flashed, and between this Squip and Savannah, who, it was clear now, was a Squip herself, Cavendish figured that it was something that happened when they were using their powers. "Alright, noted." The Squip's colored eye dimmed slightly. "Well, we've got to figure something out, because the two of us are stuck with each other, so we've got to be able to work together."

Cavendish sighed and eyed the Squip warily. "If you don't try to control my actions anymore, I'll try harder to hear what you have to say."

"You can't just hear what I say," The Squip said unexpectedly sternly. "You have to _listen."_

"I'll do my best," Cavendish said somewhat reluctantly. The Squip didn't look like the kind of person he would normally listen to, but if it meant keeping his free will, he would give it a try. "So, _you're_ supposed to be my partner?" Cavendish didn't understand how, with all of the training and studying he had gone through, he hadn't known that. It seemed like something worth mentioning at least once.

"All time travelers have a Squip," The young man walked past Cavendish and began to make his way down the hallway. He looked back and gestured for Cavendish to follow him, which he was more than happy to do so. "All of your assignments, the information of the time period you're sent to, all of that's going to go through me. You can think of me as a kind of guide to the past or something. A walking history book."

Cavendish blinked. He still didn't know how he felt about having a computer in his mind, but so far it seemed like the Squip could be rather useful. He wasn't too fond of the Squip's attitude and personality, but for all he knew the Squip would only be in this form and behave this way for a short time, like some sort of phase.

"Well, what am I supposed to call you?" Cavendish asked. "Because I'm not just going to call you Squip."

The other man shrugged. "It doesn't matter to me what I'm called. Why don't you choose something?"

Cavendish thought for a moment. He wasn't very good at this kind of thing, but he refused to use a word as ridiculous as 'Squip' to refer to his partner. "What about...Vinnie Dakota?"

"Vinnie Dakota," The Squip tested out the name and nodded. "I'm guessing Vinnie is short for Vincent, like your least favorite cousin? And Dakota, meaning North Dakota, where you were raised and couldn't wait to get away from?"

Cavendish flinched slightly. "How did you-?"

"I told you, I'm a super computer in your mind. I've got access to all kinds of memories. Whatever you know, I know, and more." The Squip reminded him. "And don't worry, I don't mind being named after two things you hate." And, strangely enough, Cavendish felt sure that the Squip meant that. He wondered if the Squip could be insulted by anything? Because it may look and act fairly human, but it was still a supercomputer.

"Alright then, Vinnie Dakota it is." Cavendish smiled at his new partner. Now that he had a name to attach to the face, it all felt more real. "I look forward to working with you."

"Hey, man, me too," Dakota half grinned and half smirked. His orange eye sparked again. Cavendish was getting increasingly uneasy with the oddly colored eye.

"I...excuse me, but is it possible for you to…" Cavendish trailed off and gestured to his own eye.

Dakota blinked and brought a hand to his orange eye. "Oh, yeah, that'll probably draw attention, won't it?" Dakota chuckled and pulled what looked like a pair of dark glasses out of his pocket. "Most Squips' eyes look identical, and they're usually a more, you know, normal color. But I...well…this will have to be good enough." Dakota put on the glasses. Cavendish could still see Dakota's eyes, but the shading made them both appear to be pretty much the same. "Is this better?"

"Much better," Cavendish said in relief. "Thank you,"

"No problem," Dakota shrugged and held out a hand with a grin. "It's my job to help you, after all, right?"

Cavendish took Dakota's hand without the smallest bit of hesitation. "Right," Dakota's hand felt pretty much like human flesh, but it was just different enough to remind Cavendish that Dakota was something more than human. "Something tells me this is going to be an interesting partnership."

"Yeah," Dakota agreed, a somewhat odd tone to his voice. "Interesting."


	2. Chapter 2

Dakota crossed his legs and rocked slightly. Anybody watching him would think that he was bored, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Who could be bored watching Cavendish pace around the bureau's library like a maniac?

"I told you, you're not going to find anything." Dakota said, though he couldn't help but be amused. Cavendish huffed and stack of books on the table that Dakota was sitting on. "Squips are probably the most well-kept secret that the Time Bureau has. You're not going to find any information in those books."

"There has to be something," Cavendish muttered irritably. He began flipping through the books so quickly that even if there was any information about Squips in there, it would be a wonder if he found anything at all. "I refuse to believe that an organization as thorough as B.o.T.T. has zero information available on the supercomputers that they implant into the minds of their agents."

"You know what? Here's a thought," Dakota uncrossed his legs and let them dangle over the edge. "If you have any questions about your supercomputer, why don't you just _ask_? I'm right here."

"I would like an unbiased opinion." Cavendish glared at Dakota, as though he expected to be lied to.

Dakota grinned slightly in amusement. "You know, I'm programmed to have access to all of B.o.T.T.'s databases. You're looking in the bureau's library. Everything in here is in me, plus more."

"Would you kindly get to the point?" Cavendish snapped. "If not, I would appreciate it if you would keep quiet and let me work."

Dakota eyed Cavendish for a moment before he shrugged and leaned back. Cavendish went back to work, and Dakota let him. He knew that Cavendish wasn't going to find anything, and he'd said as much. There wasn't much more that he could do.

Actually, that wasn't quite true. Dakota knew perfectly well that he could force Cavendish to do anything that he wanted, but he would rather not. Cavendish had made it clear how he felt about Dakota taking control of his body. Cavendish may not be listening to Dakota, but that didn't mean that he would break his end of the deal. Dakota may have only been Cavendish's Squip for a few hours, but he knew the man better than anybody. Dakota knew that Cavendish liked to learn and do things for himself, and that if the man was influenced in any way, he would just resist until he was further away from doing what he was supposed to do than before. Dakota had to work with Cavendish's needs and personality, and if that meant letting him waste his time looking for information that Dakota could easily give to him, so be it. Dakota could wait.

Besides, watching Cavendish get so flustered about something so silly was kind of fun.

Cavendish spent the next hour looking for information about Squips. When he decided that the books that he had grabbed didn't have the information he was looking for, he went to grab some more. When it didn't seem like the books were giving him anything useful, Cavendish searched on the computer databases, and he even asked the librarian for help. He didn't find anything, just like Dakota knew he wouldn't.

Cavendish probably could have gone on like this all day, but Dakota couldn't let him do that. He was an official time traveler now, and he had to focus on his work. Cavendish hadn't been given his first assignment yet, but Dakota knew that it was pending and could happen any second.

Dakota kept one eye on Cavendish, and one eye on the B.o.T.T.'s databases. He only had access to the information that was allowed to him, but fortunately for him that included the status of the other brand new agents. For awhile, all of their assignments were also 'pending', but one by one their status' changed to 'classified'. Dakota couldn't see what specific assignments were unless he was given specific permission, but at least he knew that they had an been given their missions. Soon, it would be Cavendish's turn, and he needed to be ready for it.

After half of the other new agents statuses had been changed to 'classified', Dakota knew that it was time for them to change things up.

"Alright, Cav, as much fun as this has been, you're really not getting anywhere with this." Dakota jumped off the desk and closed the book that Cavendish was browsing. "Mr. Block's going to be calling you up soon."

"I can't believe that there is _nothing_ here." Cavendish pushed the books away in frustration. He got to his feet and began to pace around irritably. "How can they not have any information about Squips?"

"I tried to tell you, we have loads of information," Dakota followed behind Cavendish. "You just have to ask the right people."

"The right people...of course!" Cavendish stopped so suddenly that Dakota walked right into him. Cavendish turned and grabbed onto Dakota's upper arms. "Brick and Savannah, they told us that we could go to them if we had any questions."

"Brick and Savannah?" Dakota concentrated as he searched for information about those two. Brick, time traveler first class, and his Squip, known by the name Savannah. Dakota wouldn't normally be able to find any information on first class agents, but Brick and Savannah were listed as their mentors. All brand new agents have upper agents as mentors, at least until they were assigned to their first mission. Technically, because Cavendish hadn't been given his first mission, Dakota still had access to Brick and Savannah's information, including their current location.

"Alright, let's go." Dakota took Cavendish's hand and dragged him along. If they were going to talk to Brick and Savannah, it had to happen before Mr. Block decided to meet with them.

"Wha-Dakota?" Cavendish stammered slightly as Dakota pulled him along. "Where are we going?"

"To talk to Brick and Savannah," Dakota said. "They're in the cafeteria."

"H-how do you know that?" Cavendish asked somewhat nervously. Dakota slowed down and let go of Cavendish's hand. He remembered that Cavendish didn't like not feeling in control. It wouldn't do either of them any good if Cavendish got all worked up before talking to his superiors, and then their boss.

"I'm a supercomputer, remember?" Dakota reminded him. Cavendish's bewildered expression told Dakota that he had, in fact, forgotten. Or, to be more accurate, Cavendish had _tried_ to forget, because it was something that he was unfamiliar with. Cavendish just couldn't comprehend that somebody who looked or acted like Dakota could be a supercomputer, so he chose to pretend that wasn't the case.

Dakota didn't know if this would be a problem in the future, so he left it alone, at least for now.

The library wasn't all that far from the cafeteria, so they got there within just a few minutes. The room was crowded, but Dakota was quickly able to point out Brick and Savannah's location, hidden back in a corner. Cavendish took a deep breath and straightened his hat, as well as his jacket. Cavendish confidently made his way over, and Dakota followed just behind him.

"Brick, Savannah, how are you?" Cavendish addressed the two of them respectfully. He even tipped his hat a little bit to them. Dakota didn't say anything, he just stayed behind Cavendish and kept his hands in his pockets.

Brick eyed Cavendish critically. "Who are you?" The man had no patience. The second that the words came out of his mouth Brick twitched and let out a small yelp of pain. Cavendish's eyes widened and he stepped back in alarm. Dakota didn't react at all. Brick turned to glare at his partner, whose eyes had flashed bright purple. "Would you stop that?!"

"Balthazar Cavendish, third class time traveler," Savannah said coldly. "You met him a few hours ago. And his Squip, registered as Vinnie Dakota. You need to be familiar with all agents, including the rookies."

"Alright, I'll work on it," Brick said. He sounded reluctant, but still sincere. Savannah was the kind of Squip who wasn't afraid to shock you if you did something wrong when you should know better. Brick turned back to Cavendish. "What do you want?"

"Pardon my intrusion," Cavendish said. "I just...I'm sorry, would you mind telling me what just happened to you?"

"Oh, that was Savannah's doing," Dakota cut in. "Squips sometimes shock their hosts to encourage a behavioral change."

"Shock?" Cavendish's eyes were wide with horror. "What kind of shock?"

Dakota shrugged and a moment later Cavendish flinched and yelped in pain as a small electric shock coursed through his veins. "Like that. Nothing too bad."

"Easy for you to say on that side of the shock," Cavendish crossed his arms and glared at Dakota. He was doing his best to be annoyed, but Dakota could see fear in his eyes. Cavendish was not responding well to being shocked. Dakota filed away that information, right next to that knowledge about Cavendish's distrust of being controlled. "Now if you don't mind, I was having a private conversation with Brick." Just Brick, not Savannah. Cavendish didn't just have a hard time with Dakota, but with Squips in general. Maybe having a private conversation with Brick would do Cavendish some good and get him to relax about having a Squip.

"Hey, you don't have to tell me twice, I know when I'm not wanted." Dakota raised his hands defensively. He turned towards Savannah. "Say, you wanna go somewhere more, I don't know, private?" Dakota raised his eyebrows suggestively, just for emphasis, though he didn't really mean it. He was just messing around.

Dakota saw Cavendish roll his eyes at his words. Brick looked stunned and somewhat disgusted. Savannah just seemed somewhat intrigued. The two of them stared at each other, silently communicating with each other in a type of battle of wills. Finally Savannah sighed nodded ever so slightly. That was good enough of a response for Dakota.

"Come on," Dakota was tempted to take Savannah's hand to pull her along, but he knew that wouldn't be a very good idea, so he just made his way to an empty corner of the room and trusted that she would follow him.

Once the two of them were alone Savannah crossed her arms and eyed Dakota critically, like she was trying to study him. "Alright, what's your deal?"

Dakota blinked, slightly thrown off. "What do you mean?"

"You behave differently than any other Squip I've met," Savannah said, and she was definitely studying him. "You've only just formed, and you already show such a strong personality. Why is that?"

"Eh, I don't know," Dakota shrugged and put his hands in his pockets. "It's just the way I am, I guess. It drives Cavendish nuts."

Savannah was silent for a moment. "Why did you choose that form?"

Dakota looked down at himself, and then he looked at her. "I don't know, why did you choose _your_ form?"

"Brick is too sure of himself. Being forced to listen to somebody that looks like _this_ is humbling for him." Savannah said. She didn't say if it was the fact that she showed herself as a woman, or because her skin appeared darker, but it didn't really matter. Just so long as it worked for her and Brick.

"It's kinda the same thing for me and Cavendish," Dakota said. "Except it's also kinda the opposite. Cavendish works best when he feels like he's in control. I thought he would feel better about working with a supercomputer partner if I looked less professional, so he would still feel in charge."

Savannah raised an eyebrow at him. "Cavendish told you this?"

"Not really, it's just something that I know," Dakota said. He had assumed that it was something that all Squips could do, have access to the thoughts and memories of their hosts, but Savannah's stunned expression told him otherwise. "Is that weird?"

"It's...unusual," Savannah said slowly. "But not unheard of." She stepped closer to Dakota and her dark eyes turned to that purple color. Dakota instinctively responded by having his orange eye spark and glow brighter, though it was hidden behind his sunglasses. "Let me see your eyes."

Dakota obeyed her request without a second thought. He slipped the glasses off and met her gaze as she analyzed him. He knew that he shouldn't be all that surprised by this. Squips' eyes were supposed to look identical to each other. They were both a normal color unless the Squip was using their databases, in which case they would begin to glow. Dakota's eyes weren't like that. One was brown, even when he was searching through databases, and the other was an electric orange, even when he wasn't doing anything. It was an unusual trait amongst Squips.

"There must be a malfunction in your core wiring." Savannah said evenly, emotionlessly. Dakota couldn't help but flinch slightly and frown at her observation, which Savannah didn't fail to notice. "And you're showing more of an emotional response than is normal for a Squip."

"Is that a bad thing?" Dakota asked, because he didn't know. He didn't think it was, but if his coding was so much different than that of other Squips, than how could he know if his thoughts were what they should be?

"I'm not sure," Savannah admitted. She smiled slightly, though Dakota almost wished she would go back to being emotionlessly broody, because that smile made him feel extremely uneasy. "I'm curious about the state of your defective systems. Up, up, down, down, left, right, A."

Dakota flinched slightly as he felt Savannah's systems flood over his own. The code she had said was a way for Squips to connect to or override each other. It felt like somebody was invading his mind, forcing themselves into places that they weren't welcome. Dakota scowled and mentally pushed Savannah out of his mind, though he went ahead and kept the connection between them intact.

Savannah staggered back slightly like she had been physically pushed. Savannah's eyes became blank, completely void of life. Dakota winced and cautiously stepped towards Savannah. She was completely still and unresponsive for a moment. Dakota was starting to worry that he had done some permanent damage somehow when Savannah's eyes sparked and she came back online.

"You doing okay there?" Dakota asked. Savannah blinked, still somewhat dazed, but then turned towards him, her eyes set in a harsh glare.

"What did you do?" Savannah asked coldly.

"I don't know, I swear," Dakota said honestly. "I just wanted you out of my head."

"You overrode my systems," Savannah said. Dakota expected her to be angry, but she sounded more fascinated than upset. Part of him would prefer that she was mad at him, because he didn't know what to expect from her now. "There must be a glitch in your systems that strengthens your power level."

"Hey, do you think maybe we can _not_ use those words like glitch, or defective, or malfunction?" Dakota asked. "It makes me feel like there's something wrong with me."

"That's because there is," Savannah said bluntly. Dakota sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. That was what he was worried she would say. "I want to keep an eye on your systems, which is why I made a connection between us. If you find any new signs of your faulty wirings, I want to be the first to hear of them." Dakota wondered just how many different ways Savannah could say that he wasn't programmed right.

"Yeah, got it," Dakota nodded. He agreed partly because he was a bit curious about what was going on with his systems, and partly because he wanted to get Savannah off his back. He wanted to find a way to get out of this conversation before Savannah decided to dissect him completely. Dakota was given such an out when he got an alert that he and Cavendish had to go see Mr. Block now.

"Hey, Cavendish!" Dakota turned away from Savannah to face his partner. "We've gotta go get our assignment now."

"Yes, yes, alright," Cavendish finished up his conversation with Brick. Dakota put his sunglasses back on and went to join Cavendish. "Let's be off." Dakota had no idea if Cavendish had actually learned what he wanted to from Brick, but he knew that Cavendish was far too excited about being given his new assignment. Nothing was going to keep him from his mission, not even his own uncertainties.

Dakota and Cavendish said their goodbyes to Brick and Savannah and made their way to Mr. Block's office. They would be given the majority of their assignments through technological means, but Mr. Block liked to talk to the new agents in person.

"So, how did you talk with Brick go?" Dakota asked.

"It went decently enough," Cavendish said stiffly. "I do hope that you don't resort to shocking or controlling me the way that Savannah does to Brick."

Dakota thought about it for a moment before he shrugged. "Nah, that's not really my style." He wondered if Savannah would see his reluctance to shock his partner when necessary as another sign that he was a glitchy Squip. She probably would.

"Well, that's a relief." Cavendish visibly relaxed. "What about you? How did your talk with Savannah go?"

"It was okay," Dakota said, though he felt thrown off about it. "I definitely have a lot to think about now."

I believe that is true for both of us." Cavendish said. Dakota didn't think that either of them was actually ready for this assignment. He didn't say anything about it, because he knew how much Cavendish wanted this. Dakota just hoped that they were given a simple assignment to start off with, that they would have time to get used to being time travelers before they were really thrown in the deep end.


	3. Chapter 3

Cavendish had spent so much time preparing to be a time traveler. He had spent countless hours studying and preparing to become an agent, and he had hoped that it would all be worth it in the end. Now he had finally become an agent, and the first assignment that he had been given was to prevent pistachios from becoming extinct in the future.

As if the assignment hadn't been humiliating and degrading enough, they had been given that same assignment a dozen times in a row. It was surprisingly difficult to keep pistachios safe. It was supposed to be a simple job. Go in, keep the pistachios from being eaten by woodpeckers, and finish in time to pick up some nachos for dinner (Cavendish was not in the mood for nachos, but Dakota insisted that he needed to eat, and he seemed to think that a variety of food would be good for him, no matter how unhealthy that variety may be).

It shouldn't be this hard for them to accomplish, and yet time after time their assignment went wrong in the most preposterous ways. It was absolutely infuriating. It was as though the universe was working against them. Cavendish had known that being a time traveler wouldn't be easy, but if he's going to be struggling with an assignment, then couldn't it be something a little more heroic? Or, at the very least, couldn't he work with a partner who was a little less...Dakota?

"This is absurd," Cavendish grumbled as he aggressively pushed open the door to their one room apartment. He tossed his hat on the desk and ran a hand through his hair.

"Tell me about it," Dakota was much more calm about their failed mission, which did nothing to make Cavendish feel better. Dakota closed the door behind them. "Who knew that llamas liked pistachio gelatin so much?"

"Well, I would _think_ that this is the kind of information that a super computer would have access to," Cavendish said. He glared at his partner bitterly. "If you can't do something as simple as retrieve information, then what good are you to me?"

Dakota had looked completely uncaring up to this point, but at Cavendish's words his eyes sparked so intensely that it could be seen even behind the darkened sunglasses. Cavendish couldn't help but flinch when Dakota glared at him. He felt shivers down his spine, though he didn't know if it was because of his own mind, or if Dakota was manipulating him somehow. He hated how he could never tell.

"Alright, that's enough," Dakota crossed his arms, and even though he was rather short compared to Cavendish, and wasn't the least bit intimidating, Cavendish found himself cowering slightly under his gaze. "It's time me and you had a talk. What's your problem with me?"

"My problem?" Cavendish stared at Dakota in shock before he found himself getting frustrated all over again. "My problem is that you don't contribute anything to this partnership. You goof off during assignments. You don't take our work seriously. You don't behave as a supercomputer should."

"There it is," Dakota threw his arms in the air. "Let me ask you something, Cav. If I wasn't a supercomputer, if I was just an ordinary person like you are, would you still think that?"

Cavendish blinked and just stared at Dakota. "I-I'm not entirely sure what you're asking."

Dakota sighed. "Look, what I'm asking is if it's actually my attitude that is bugging you this much, or if you're just mad that I'm not what you think a Squip should be like."

Cavendish frowned and considered Dakota's question. "Why do you sound so upset about this?" Cavendish thought that Dakota was just a computer. A ridiculous, unbelievable, very human-like computer, but still just a program. Software wasn't supposed to have feelings.

"Well, because if you really can't work with my attitude, I can work on that," Dakota said sincerely. "But I don't think I'll ever be a Squip like Savannah is."

"What do you mean?" Cavendish furrowed his brow. Cavendish had always had a hard time understanding people, but even just based on his abysmal experience, Dakota was a complete mystery to him. Cavendish usually slowly began to understand people after being around them for extended periods of time, but the opposite seemed to be true with Dakota. Every single day Cavendish became more and more confused about the enigma that was Vinnie Dakota. Cavendish probably knew even less about Dakota than he did when they had first met.

Dakota tensed and Cavendish felt a small spark at the back of his neck. It wasn't bad enough to really cause him pain, or even discomfort, it was just a surprise. Dakota took off his sunglasses, showing off his different colored eyes. "You remember how I told you that most Squips have matching eyes?" Cavendish nodded. He did remember that being brought up.

"Well, it turns out that my eyes being like this is a sign that there's something weird with my programming." Dakota shrugged and put his hands in his pockets. His demeanor implied that he felt extremely casual and normal about the conversation, but Dakota's tone was much too guarded for Cavendish to believe that he was completely comfortable with this conversation. "I'm not a normal Squip."

"You...you're not?" Cavendish stared at Dakota in shock. He didn't know why he was so surprised. He barely knew Savannah, but his conversation with Brick that first day had left him feeling cautious about working with a Squip. According to Brick, Squips were all controlling, manipulative, and completely focused on the task at hand. Because they weren't human, they weren't afraid to cause some pain or discomfort to get what they wanted. Dakota didn't seem to be anything like that. At first Cavendish had thought that it was just another manipulation tactic, that Dakota was deceiving him and trying to get him to put his guard down, but now he considered the possibility that Dakota's behavior wasn't that much of an act at all. "What's the nature of your malfunction?"

Dakota flinched again, and Cavendish felt another little shock. Cavendish felt himself get angry, but Dakota spoke up before he could express that anger. "Sorry, it's a reflex."

"How in the world is shocking people a reflex?" Cavendish asked, more out of confusion than anger.

"Well, uh, it's kinda like when you're holding someone's hand and maybe you get angry and squeeze their hand," Dakota said. "You're not trying to hurt them, but it just happens because your reflex takes over, you know?"

"No, not really," Cavendish said honestly. He couldn't relate to the experience, but he thought that he had understood Dakota's words at least a bit. "But you didn't do it on purpose?"

"Yeah, no, it was a complete accident." Dakota said. "I'll work on not letting it happen again."

"In that case, I suppose I can try not to say things that will get you defensive like this," Cavendish said. "What were you so upset about anyways? I didn't even know that Squips could get upset at all."

"Yeah, well, apparently _that's_ part of what's wrong with me," Dakota said. "I have feelings, a lot like a human does, and apparently that's not something that Squips should have."

Cavendish frowned in confusion. "I don't completely understand how having emotions means that there's something wrong with you."

"It just makes me different from other Squips," Dakota said. "Savannah's pretty sure there's more wrong with me than just feelings though. She wants me to keep her updated about any abnormalities I notice about me." Dakota didn't sound too pleased about this, and Cavendish found that he wasn't too happy about it either.

"I honestly don't believe that you are any of Savannah's business," Cavendish crossed his arms, already planning the ways that he would tell Savannah off. It was so odd how defensive he was getting for Dakota's sake when he had been so angry at him just a few moments ago. "I know it's not any of my business either, but if you find more, well, abnormalities, I would greatly appreciate it if you would share them with me."

Dakota eyed Cavendish warily before he grinned in a friendly way. "Yeah, I can do that. We're partners. We need to know these things about each other."

"Indeed," Cavendish agreed.

"And you know, Cav, when I say we're partners, I mean that we're _equals."_ Dakota said seriously. "I don't want you to go around thinking you're better than me, or that I'm better than you. We're just partners. Every success and every failure is _both_ of our responsibilities."

"Yes, of course," Cavendish said somewhat sheepishly. He recognized how unfair he had been towards Dakota. He had just been expecting more than Dakota could give. Cavendish had wanted Dakota to be someone who would fit in with other humans, which was something that didn't come naturally to Dakota. At the same time though Cavendish had expected Dakota to be a robot-like, all powerful, all knowing supercomputer that never made mistakes, and that just wasn't what Dakota was. Dakota wasn't a perfect human, and he wasn't a perfect Squip. He was just Dakota, and that probably wasn't going to change any time soon.

Cavendish couldn't make any guarantees that he would be more patient with Dakota's antics, but he would probably be more understanding, and he would certainly try his best.

"Just for the record, Dakota, I honestly prefer your current state of being," Cavendish admitted. "I don't think I would much enjoy working with an entirely functional and proper Squip. So if I'm going to be working with a supercomputer, I'm glad that it's at least someone like you." Cavendish felt foolish for being so sentimental, but Dakota's broad grin told him that the sentimentality was appreciated.

"Aw, you _do_ like me." Dakota teased in a singsong voice.

"Don't be ridiculous," Cavendish scoffed. "Now, come on, we'd best get some rest before we get assigned to protect a particular pistachio plant... _again._ Cavendish had no idea when the nature of their missions would change, and that still bothered him, but it was good to know that their working relationship would likely improve from this point on.

And who knew? Perhaps when Cavendish and Dakota figured out how to work together they would finally be able to complete their mission. Cavendish didn't know how likely this possibility was, but it was nice to think about.

* * *

 **A/N:** **This chapter was shorter than the others have been so far, and likely will be from this point on, but I have a very good reason for that...I have no idea how to write Cavendish and Dakota back when they didn't get along with each other (back during the early episodes of the show. Cavendish was so much harsher to Dakota, who was even less helpful during their assignments). I felt like I needed this chapter, to show that they hadn't really gotten along, but now they will, but there was only so much that I could figure out how to write with that.**

 **Next chapter we'll be back to your regularly scheduled 'Dakota does everything he possibly can for Cavendish's sake' kind of chapter. By the way, because of the nature of this story, (Dakota being a supercomputer) Dakota won't be going back in time hundreds of times to prevent Cavendish's death. It just wouldn't work with this story, because if Cavendish dies in any time period, Dakota would disappear, and that would make it impossible for him to go back in time to prevent the death from happening in the first place.**

 **Don't worry though, I do have plans as to what Dakota does for Cavendish, and by the end of next chapter most of you will probably have an idea of what I have in mind too, and let me tell you, I'm really excited for it.**


	4. Chapter 4

Dakota had told both Cavendish and Savannah that if he discovered anything new that set him apart from the other Squips, then he would tell them. However, he hadn't been entirely honest with either of them. Dakota didn't feel any obligation to tell Savannah what was going on with him. She may be his superior, but she was also really cold towards him. She treated him more like a specimen to examine than a living being. Sure, he would tell her some things about himself, just because she might be able to provide some interesting Squip insight. However, there were some things that Dakota had discovered about himself that he thought would be best to keep hidden Savannah.

Cavendish, on the other hand, was his partner. They were supposed to be able to trust each other. Dakota did trust Cavendish, but not necessarily with everything. After all, Cavendish cared about nothing more than he cared about his job. If he thought that Dakota wasn't as focused on the job as he was, he might change his mind about wanting Dakota as a partner.

It wasn't that Dakota didn't care about his assignments, but he probably didn't care about them in the way that Cavendish would want him to, or the way that the B.o.T.T. expected from him. One thing that Dakota knew about how Squips were supposed to be was that they were programmed with two prime directives. The first and most important one was that they were programmed to complete their assignments, no matter what. As a secondary objective, they were supposed to keep their partners safe.

Dakota's main motivations and goals weren't quite like that. It had taken him a few days to notice, but Dakota cared a lot more about Cavendish than he did about protecting pistachios. If it was just that Dakota's first and secondary goals had gotten switched, then he didn't think that it would be that big of a deal. But he really didn't think that was the case, because while he may care about finishing the assignments, it wasn't because that was his job and purpose, but because it was what would make Cavendish happy.

Everything that Dakota did, it was for Cavendish. Even when they were in the middle of their assignment, Dakota wouldn't hesitate to let the pistachios they were protecting get destroyed if it meant keeping Cavendish safe. This was something that happened nearly every single mission, as Cavendish could become really oblivious to the world around him when he was focused on a mission. Dakota couldn't count the number of times that he had to pull Cavendish back onto the sidewalk because he was chasing after a runaway pistachio cart.

Beyond his mixed up priorities, Dakota spent all of his time making sure that Cavendish;s personal needs were taken care of. Cavendish was just so focused and serious, and Dakota knew that he had to take care of his partner, because Cavendish definitely wasn't going to take care of himself.

And making sure that Cavendish didn't run himself to the ground and kill himself was definitely a full time job. Dakota practically had to drag Cavendish to eat meals, and even then he was only successful about half the time. Dakota could only make sure that Cavendish ate regularly by carrying snacks with him everywhere and 'eating' it. As a Squip, Dakota didn't really eat food, but he had found that when Cavendish saw him eating, he would regularly 'sneak' his snack from him.

Getting Cavendish to eat was easy, getting him to sleep though was a lot more complicated. No matter how tired Cavendish was, nothing that Dakota said could convince him to relax and take a nap. He was so anxious and focused on his job all the time, Cavendish was reluctant to take a five minute break, let alone some time off to sleep. It wasn't too hard for Dakota to get Cavendish to sleep, but he always felt bad whenever he did it. Afterall, Dakota had promised Cavendish that he wouldn't control or manipulate him. Cavendish liked being in complete control, and Dakota felt like he was betraying his partner. Dakota may not be silencing Cavendish or manipulating his movements, but when the man got too tired and he was too stubborn to go to sleep, Dakota would mess with Cavendish's mind and basically force him to sleep.

It wasn't harmful, at least not the way that Dakota was doing it. He told himself that it was no different than using a simple sleeping drug. Dakota did it for Cavendish's own good, but he wasn't foolish enough to think that this didn't count as controlling Cavendish. He felt kinda bad for doing the one thing that Cavendish had asked him not to do, but if he had to choose between betraying Cavendish and keeping him safe and healthy, Dakota would choose Cavendish's health every time. It didn't matter to him if Cavendish hated him, just so long as he was okay.

Dakota still put effort into their missions, just for Cavendish's sake. He was disappointed when they failed, but not nearly as devastated as Cavendish was.

"I just don't know why we even bother anymore." Cavendish groaned. They had just had yet another failed mission, and they were both feeling tired after it. "I give everything I can for the bureau, but it's not enough. No matter how hard I try, it's never good enough." Cavendish fell onto a nearby bench and rested his head in his hands. Dakota grimaced at the sigh. Cavendish was always disappointed after a failed assignment, but it had never been this bad before.

"Hey, come on, it's not that bad," Dakota sat down next to Cavendish and put a hand on his back. "Nobody cares more about this job than you do."

"But that means absolutely nothing if I can't do the work." Cavendish moaned. Dakota frowned. Cavendish was beginning to stop blaming Dakota solely for their failed missions, but with nobody else to blame, he had started to blame himself. Dakota was relieved that they were starting to work together as a team, but he almost wished that Cavendish would go back to blaming him. He just hated to see Cavendish like this.

"Cav, you work harder than anybody else does." Dakota reminded him. "You do your best, and you can't really do any better than your best, right?"

Cavendish seemed to physically deflate at Dakota's words. "I do try my best, but it's still not enough to accomplish even the simplest of assignments." Cavendish sighed. "Maybe this really isn't the job for me."

"Hey, don't talk like that," Dakota got up from the bench and stood in front of Cavendish. "You're good enough to do whatever the heck you want to do, alright? If you want to be a time traveler, then be the best darn time traveler the bureau has ever seen."

"I'm not sure if I can," Cavendish said quietly. Dakota had heard enough of this negativity.

"Okay, you know that voice in your head that's telling you you can't?" Dakota asked. When Cavendish nodded but still didn't look up at him Dakota put his hands on his partner's shoulders to get his attention. "Forget that voice. Listen to _this_ voice when it says we've got this."

Cavendish looked at Dakota with so much doubt and hesitancy in his eyes that it almost hurt. "How can you know that?"

Dakota grinned and tapped a finger to his temple. "You keep forgetting, I'm a supercomputer. I know everything."

Cavendish scoffed, though it seemed more out of amusement than annoyance, so Dakota considered that a win. "Well, what we've been doing so far hasn't been working. We need to make a new game plan."

"Yes, a plan," Dakota agreed enthusiastically. He could stand listening to Cavendish's obsessive plans. He would take that over Cavendish being depressed any day. "Let's go for it. What do you have in mind?"

"I...have no idea," Cavendish admitted reluctantly.

"Okay, let's break this down," Dakota sat down on the floor in front of the bench, ignoring the odd look that Cavendish gave him for it. "Let's start with an easy question. What do you want to do with your career?"

Cavendish looked at Dakota in bemusement. "You call that an easy question? I faced simpler questions when I applied for the bureau."

Dakota grinned. This was probably his favorite part of working with Cavendish, getting him to relax and have some fun. It was best when Dakota was able to do it without even trying. "Just give it a try."

Cavendish sighed dramatically, though Dakota could tell it was more for show than true annoyance. "Well, the reason that I joined the bureau in the first place is to save the world."

"Oh," Dakota nodded and smiled broadly. "You want to be a hero."

"Yes, I do," Cavendish said stubbornly. He was proud, he was sure of what he wanted, and he was determined to achieve his dreams. Cavendish was extremely ambitious and capable, why couldn't anybody else in the bureau realize this? "But I'm not going to be doing anything of the sort if I'm stuck on pistachio duty for the rest of my life." There was a bit of despair back in Cavendish's tone.

"I guess we're going to have to show the bureau just what you're capable of," Dakota said. "I know you can do more, and you know you can do more. Now we just need Mr. Block to realize it."

"But how are we supposed to do that if we're always given the most insignificant of assignments?" Cavendish argued, and he had a bit of a point. Cavendish wouldn't be able to show what he could do unless he really impressed their boss. He wouldn't even have the chance to impress Mr. Block if he was just stuck on pistachio duty. Even if they did manage to complete their mission, it probably wouldn't prove anything to Mr. Block, and they would just be given another horrible mission.

Unless something else changed, Cavendish wouldn't be able to achieve his dream of saving the world, because he would never be given the chance. That wasn't okay in Dakota's book. It wasn't even an option. He had to get creative to help Cavendish, because he wasn't just going to sit back and do nothing.

"I guess we'll just have to continue doing our job and hope for an opportunity to come to us." Dakota said, even as he began searching his databases to get an idea. He knew the chances of an opportunity just falling out of the sky wasn't all that likely. However, opportunities could be created, and situations could be manipulated, and if there was one thing that Dakota could do, it was manipulate.

Dakota put his hands in his pockets and paused when he felt his fingers brush against something. He brought it out and saw that it was a single pistachio nut. It must have fallen into his pocket during their latest mission. Dakota was confused about how a nut had made its way into his pocket. He had thought that all of the pistachio plants that they were supposed to save had been completely dead by the time they had gotten there. This time, the mission's failure had nothing to do with them. The farmers had probably just forgotten to fertilize the plants or something.

Pistachio fertilizer...the future had some very interesting pistachio tree fertilizer. Dakota didn't know what it was about the future, but they insisted on making everything fancy and technological. Everything glowed, and became very volatile under the wrong circumstances. Like service robots that would attack you if you insulted them, or fertilizer that became sentient and violent when it was combined with the chemical diaminohexane.

A sentient blob made of pistachio tree fertilizer had never been used to actually fertilize a pistachio tree, so nobody knew what would happen from it. Dakota suspected that the blob would actually fertilize the tree, but it might also make it sentient and violent. A violent, sentient, pistachio tree. Something like that would be really dangerous...and would probably be just the opportunity that Cavendish needed.

Dakota would see to it that Cavendish saved the world, even if he had to put it in danger himself.


	5. Chapter 5

Everything was going according to plan, which Dakota was honestly surprised about. He may be a supercomputer, but there were so many things to take into account when planning something, and that just took so much effort. Dakota had a vague idea what he wanted to accomplish. His end goal was to give Cavendish the chance to save the world. He had a vague plan to accomplish it. He would combine pistachio fertilizer with diaminohexane, and use the sentient blob to fertilize a pistachio plant. Dakota hadn't really planned anything beyond that.

Dakota could analyze situations really well, but he couldn't predict things all that well. Maybe he _could_ predict things if he really wanted to, but that wasn't really his style. No matter how hard he tried, it would be impossible for him to predict everything. Instead of even trying, he would rather just go with the flow. He could set things up, and then he would sit back, relax, and let things happen.

By the time Dakota had thought that he should be a little more thorough in his planning, everything had already worked itself out. Dakota had been able to subtly hack into the quantum localizer so that it would send them into the closet of a middle school science classroom. He had thought that he could just grab some of the diaminohexane from the supply closet, get to their actual destination, and slip the chemical into the pistachio tree fertilizer without Cavendish noticing. He had gotten them into the supply closet, and then things had taken a turn for the unexpected.

First, the quantum localizer had ran out of power, and they'd had to charge it. Dakota knew that the device had been completely charged before they had started the assignment. His tampering must have overheated the quantum localizer's systems. Fortunately, it didn't seem like the device was permanently damaged, because Dakota would get in serious trouble if that had happened.

The mess with the quantum localizer had been unexpected, but an easy fix. What had really thrown off Dakota's plan was that there was absolutely no diaminohexane in the supply closet. It was just their luck that the science class in session was using the chemical in their studies. Before Dakota could even begin to think of a backup plan, a familiar looking child had entered the closet, stared at him and Cavendish in shock, before grabbing the pistachio fertilizer and leaving without saying a word. The boy must have mistaken the fertilizer for some chemical absorbent. Dakota could have stopped him, but he didn't say a word. If there had been a chemical spill, and one of the chemicals had been diaminohexane, then Dakota's job might just be done for him.

And, strangely enough, that was exactly what happened. The science class students accidentally created a sentient blob. Dakota was mildly concerned for a moment that the sentient blob was too violent and would quickly get out of control. He knew that his plan would almost certainly put people in danger, but that was the whole point. The whole reason he was doing this was to give Cavendish a chance to prove himself and save the world. For that to happen the world kinda needed to be put in danger. That was the whole idea. However, having students getting hurt because of a sentient blob was different from the entire world being in danger. It was...worse, somehow, which didn't make a whole lot of sense, but Dakota had stopped questioning his feelings. He didn't think it was something he would ever be able to understand.

Dakota could have stayed behind to make sure that the students weren't hurt by the sentient blob, and that was probably exactly what he should have done, but he was focused on his goal. His first priority was to do this thing for Cavendish. Once he knew that the pistachio tree was fertilized by the sentient blob, and the only thing left to do was wait, then he could expand his concerns to people outside of Cavendish.

Dakota didn't know exactly how he would get the sentient blob to go to the pistachio tree in the first place, but fortunately that was yet another thing that just worked itself out. Dakota had thought that his entire plan had gone up in smoke when Cavendish had accidentally stepped on the pistachio plant that had been the prime subject for this little experiment. Dakota had analyzed everything he could about all of the pistachio plants in the area, including how healthy they already were, how young they were, how much sunlight they received, the likelihood of them growing to complete maturity, and how much space and resources the plant may have to share with any other plants around them, and this little pistachio plant in the middle school courtyard was just about the best plant that he could ask for.

Dakota didn't think he would be able to find another pistachio plant that was as perfect as this one was, so he hadn't given up on it immediately. That night after Cavendish was asleep Dakota had gone back to the courtyard to see if there was anything he could do to save the pistachio plant, only to find that it was not only alive and healthy, but also thriving. The pistachio plant looked a lot different than it had before, it was almost unrecognizable, and if Dakota didn't know better he would think it was a new plant entirely. But no, all of Dakota's resources said that this was indeed a pistachio plant, even if its leaves were red instead of green, and it was glowing almost radioactively. Dakota didn't think that this was anything to worry about though, because it was probably just because the pistachio plant was reacting to the sentient blob fertilizing it. Dakota had achieved step one of his goal, and he didn't even know how he had done it.

Dakota grinned and knelt on the ground next to the pistachio plant. "You're going to grow up to be a lot of trouble, aren't you?" He sounded too excited, but he couldn't help it. A quick analysis of this pistachio plant, comparing it to his information about pistachio plants and how they grew, told Dakota that the plant had a 99.9% chance of growing to maturity. This was a 7.2% increase than it had been just earlier that day. The plant had definitely been fertilized. Now all there was left to do was wait for it to grow up.

In the meantime, Dakota could focus on keeping Cavendish happy, which was a lot easier said than done. Cavendish had never been a very cheerful guy, but he was always in a pretty bad mood after they failed an assignment. Cavendish was always a lot more irritated if the failed assignment was definitely one of their faults, and not just because of some freak accident, which meant that he would be a real pain to deal with in the morning.

Dakota knew that if he really wanted Cavendish to be in a cheerful mood, he could always just tell him that the pistachio plant was, in fact, alive, but he didn't want to risk it. Cavendish was extremely reckless sometimes, especially when he was focused on his job. After all, Cavendish had stepped on this pistachio plant just earlier that day. The pistachio plant had only just been fertilized. It needed more time to really stabilize. Once Dakota was sure the plant was strong enough to survive, he would show Cavendish. Until then, he had to find another way to keep Cavendish happy.

This was a lot easier said than done.

The next day was completely unexpected, and a perfect example why Dakota had a tendency to avoid trying to predict things, because there was no way he would have been able to guess what had happened. The biggest surprise of the day was that when Cavendish found out that they had been assigned yet another pistachio related incident, he had complained at first, but then he had decided to do something about it.

Dakota was fairly familiar with Cavendish at this point, so he was extremely caught off guard, but also extremely relieved when Cavendish had decided that he wanted to call Mr. Block and ask about getting a new assignment. Dakota was so impressed that he decided to put in a little effort himself, so when their communicator didn't work he used his connection to Savannah to find her and Brick's location so they could borrow their communicator instead.

Things with Brick and Savannah hadn't gone very well. Apparently his and Cavendish's presence was enough to mess up Brick and Savannah's assignment. Cavendish didn't know the details of what had happened, because Brick and Savannah had gone back and prevented it from happening in the first place. Dakota didn't have that privilege. His connection with Savannah allowed him to tap into her memory systems and see what had happened, and he was not amused.

In the timeline that Brick and Savannah had changed, the two of them had told Cavendish and Dakota to their faces that they were the worst agents, practically telling them that they were completely useless. Dakota didn't mind it so much, but he was insulted on Cavendish's behalf. Cavendish had worked hard to get this job in the first place. Nobody was more dedicated than Cavendish was, and it wasn't okay for Brick and Savannah to insult his capabilities to be a time traveler.

If Dakota had any doubts about his plan, they would be completely gone at this point. This was why he was doing this. Cavendish deserved the chance to prove himself.

Dakota hadn't told Cavendish a word about what Brick and Savannah had told them in the alternate timeline. Cavendish already had his own doubts, he didn't need to know what other people thought of him. Even without him saying anything, Cavendish had a fairly good idea that he wasn't well-respected. What else was he supposed to think, when they were only ever given pistachio related incidents?

Dakota was desperate to find a way to stop Cavendish from thinking too deeply about his own failures, and he had done this the first way that he could think of. That boy who had grabbed the pistachio fertilizer from the closet, he introduced himself as Milo Murphy, made an appearance once again, twice in one day, and both times something had gone wrong. First their pistachio cart had been destroyed by a swordfish (which was something that Dakota was still having a hard time wrapping his head around), and then the pistachio shipment that they were supposed to keep an eye out for had been destroyed. And, once again, Dakota couldn't find any information about how it could have happened. The chances of these events happening at all were extremely slim, let alone on the same day, at the same place, with the same child making an appearance shortly before or after it.

A quick search back through his memory processors confirmed that this wasn't the first time that Milo had been in the area when their missions had gone wrong. Back at the opera house, across the street from the movie theater, he'd been there. Dakota wondered if there were more examples of this. He'd have to do a more thorough search through his memories, but that would take time, so it was something he would have to save until later.

Even if Dakota didn't know for sure what Milo was up to, he decided to tell Cavendish what he knew. He knew exactly what assumption Cavendish would jump to, and he was fairly confident that it was the wrong assumption, but he told Cavendish anyways. Dakota hated how Cavendish blamed himself when their missions went wrong, so when the man began to think that Milo was an enemy agent out to sabotage them, Dakota went ahead and let him. If Cavendish had somebody else to blame, maybe he wouldn't blame himself so much. Maybe it wasn't fair for Dakota to allow Cavendish to look at a child as an enemy, but as long as he wasn't doing anybody any harm, Dakota figured it would be okay.

Cavendish spent the rest of the day going on and on about the 'rival agent'. Dakota only half paid attention to what his partner was saying. He normally listened to everything that Cavendish had to say, no matter how ridiculous or obsessed he sounded, but he couldn't just focus enough this time around. It had been a long day, Dakota was tired and groggy, which he didn't understand. He was a super computer, he wasn't supposed to get tired. Dakota considered resting his systems, but he couldn't do that. As soon as Cavendish went to sleep Dakota was going to try to figure out just who Milo Murphy was.

Finally Cavendish seemed to begin to wind down a bit, and Dakota took this opportunity to 'encourage' him to sleep. It didn't take a lot, as Cavendish was probably just as tired as he was. When Cavendish finally fell asleep, Dakota got to work. He sat down on the ground, his back against the wall. He took off his glasses, as it felt more natural without them, and closed his eyes as he began his search.

Dakota began with what he knew. He searched for other instances in his memory where he and Cavendish may have had a run in with Milo when their missions had gone wrong. It didn't take him long to find the connection. The majority of his memories of their missions going wrong included Milo in one way or another, but he hadn't noticed him earlier when he had just been living in the moment.

But did that mean that Milo had caused these incidents, or was it something else? It would take Dakota more searching to figure that out. He decided to take a chance and search through the B.o.T.T's database, see if there was a Milo Murphy on any of their records. It was a long shot, and Dakota didn't think that would work, but he took a shot, and was pleasantly surprised to see that it paid off big time.

There was an entire extensive file on Milo Murphy. The majority of the file talked about Milo's family, though Dakota quickly noticed that while the females in Milo's family were mentioned briefly, most of the information was focused on the males. There was a very extensive family history on file, dating all the way back to 1800s. Many of the Murphy males had different events cited and referenced next to them, most of the events being tragedies and disasters. Either this was a family of psychos, spanning across generations, or there was something else going on here.

As Dakota searched back far enough he found connection to the name Edward Murphy, and that name was enough to connect all the puzzle pieces. Edward Murphy coined the phrase 'anything that can go wrong, _will_ go wrong.' It was just a saying, but the more that Dakota looked into this family the more he believed that for this family it wasn't just a cautionary phrase, it was their very lives.

"Dakota?" He opened his eyes and looked to see Cavendish looking tiredly at him. "What are you doing awake at this hour?"

"...Research," Dakota slipped his glasses back on, because he knew how much his eyes bothered Cavendish. "What about you? You don't normally wake up in the middle of the night."

"I have a bit of a headache," Cavendish said, and Dakota could hear the pain in his voice. Dakota pushed any thought about Milo to the back of his mind and got up to get a better look at Cavendish.

"What kind of headache is it?" Dakota asked quickly. "Migrain? Tension headache? Cluster headache?"

"What? No, it's just a headache," Cavendish rolled his eyes and brushed away Dakota's concern. In doing so, their hands brushed, and Cavendish cried out in pain. He quickly drew his hand back and stared at Dakota in alarm. "Wh-what was that?"

"What was what?" Dakota looked down at his hand. It looked perfectly fine, but Cavendish was staring at it like it was going to bite him...or burn him. Dakota did a quick check of his internal systems and quickly found that his body's temperature was much higher than it should be. "...Oh, sorry, I guess that's my bad," Dakota put his hands in his pockets, so as to not burn Cavendish again accidentally. "I kinda got a bit overheated there."

"Overheated?" Cavendish looked at Dakota in confusion for a moment before his eyes widened in sudden understanding. "Wait a moment, have you been working all night?"

"Technically it would only be fore half the night," Dakota pointed out, because it wasn't morning yet. Cavendish paid no attention to this technicality.

"When was the last time you took a rest?" Cavendish asked. "I don't think I've ever seen you sleep before."

Dakota sighed and rolled his eyes a bit. "Cav, I'm a computer, I don't need sleep."

"Don't you use that 'computer' excuse on me," Cavendish said strictly as he crossed his arms. "I know for a fact that computers need sleep as well, in a sense, or else they may get overheated or slow down, which is clearly already happening."

"What do you want me to do about it?" Dakota asked. "Close my eyes and count sheep?"

"No, counting sheep takes effort, and you won't be able to go into sleep mode that way," Cavendish said seriously, completely missing Dakota's sarcastic tone of voice. "Is there honestly no way for you to go into sleep mode or something?"

"Uh, I guess there is," Dakota knew exactly how to do it without even having to think about it. This was just one of things things that Squips knew. "I just haven't done it before because I didn't think I had to."

"Well, I suggest you do it now before you make it impossible for either of us to work in the morning." Cavendish said sharply, though not unkindly. He may be gruff and tired, but there was a note of concern in his voice.

Dakota grinned. "Aw, you _do_ care about me," Dakota teased. Cavendish scowled and pushed Dakota away from the desk.

"Go to sleep, Dakota," Cavendish said, and Dakota could tell he meant it as an order. Dakota, still grinning broadly, sat back down on the ground. Though it probably wasn't necessary he closed his eyes. He made a mental note to look more into the Murphy files later. That was the last thing he did that night before activating sleep mode and, for once, truly resting.


	6. Chapter 6

Pistachions had taken over in the future. It was all okay though, because they'd saved the world, and the future. There was nothing to worry about. Everything had worked out great, even better than Dakota had hoped for. Cavendish had managed to save the world. Alright, so that wasn't entirely accurate. It had been a team effort. But Cavendish had played enough of a roll in it that he felt proud, like he had justified his position as a time traveler. That was the whole reason why Dakota had arranged this whole mess in the first place. He had accomplished his goal, Cavendish was happy, so Dakota should be feeling pretty darn pleased with himself.

So why did he feel so lousy?

Dakota listened numbly as Cavendish excitedly went over their report that they would be turning in to Mr. Block. He only caught about half of what Cavendish was saying. He knew he should be paying better attention, that he should be celebrating this victory with Cavendish, but his mind was elsewhere.

"...Although perhaps it would be better if we didn't include that bit." Cavendish said thoughtfully "What do you think, Dakota? Dakota?" Cavendish nudged Dakota, his brow furrowed in confusion.

"Wha-hey, I'm listening," Dakota blinked and tried to bring his focus back to his partner. "What were you saying?"

Cavendish crossed his arms, giving Dakota an unimpressed look. "So you _weren't_ listening to me." It wasn't even a question, but a statement.

"Yeah, sorry," Dakota ran his hands through his hair. "I guess I guess distracted."

"Distracted?" Cavendish's annoyed glance turned into one of confusion. "I didn't know you _could_ get distracted from what I had to say."

Dakota frowned slightly and stared at Cavendish with a look of shock that was identical to his partner's. "Yeah, me neither." He was Cavendish's Squip, his entire programming was tied in with Cavendish's brain. If Cavendish was saying anything, Dakota should be all over it, especially when that something was work related. A Squip shouldn't be distracted from their partner, except by the job.

Dakota guessed that this was just one other way that he was defective.

"What's on your mind?" Cavendish asked, and there was actual, concerned curiosity in his eyes. He wasn't just asking out of obligation or habit, he genuinely wanted to know Dakota's thoughts and feelings. They'd sure come a long way in their partnership from when Cavendish had been annoyed by every little mistake he made and just saw him as an imperfect, unfeeling supercomputer. Cavendish actually saw Dakota as an equal, and in a little bit that would probably feel pretty fantastic, but right now he was too busy thinking about something else.

Dakota felt so many conflicting feelings, it felt like he was having an emotional overload, and he really didn't know how to handle it. He was happy for Cavendish, he really, honestly was, but these feelings were overwhelmed by something else that he didn't recognize. It was like...he felt _bad_ about what had happened, which didn't make any sense. He really didn't have any reason to feel bad. He may have put the world in danger, but that was only because he had known that Cavendish (and others) could make things right.

Dakota recognized that what he had done, manipulating the circumstances to cause the pistachion's uprising, was morally wrong. But then they had gone back and prevented the pistachion's from ever existing in the first place. Historically, there never had been a creature called a pistachion, it was like the incident hadn't happened at all. If it hadn't happened, then logically that meant that Dakota hadn't actually done anything wrong. So, no, he didn't feel bad, at least, not about his involvement in this incident.

No, what Dakota felt bad about was...was...somebody _else's_ involvement.

Oh, so _this_ was what guilt felt like...interesting. Dakota didn't really like it all that much. It was like his gut was twisting up in knots, screaming at him for being a horrible person. He wanted to make the feeling stop. A quick search through databases and sources showed him that one way to ease guilt was by apologizing to the one you'd wronged. He could do that.

"Say, Cavendish, you cool with finishing the report on your own? I've got something I've gotta do," Dakota said. Cavendish looked at him in shock for a moment.

"W-well, yes, I suppose so," Cavendish stammered a bit, clearly trying to hide how thrown off he was. "Where are you going?"

"I'll tell you when I get back," Dakota got to his feet and stretched. "I shouldn't be gone long."

"Well, just be careful," Cavendish said, though he still looked more confused than concerned. Dakota's feelings weren't all that hurt by Cavendish's lack of concern though, because they both knew perfectly well that, as a super computer, it was unlikely that Dakota would find himself in any kind of situation where he would have to be careful. Than again, considering his destination,maybe it would be wise for him to be a bit more cautious.

Dakota adjusted his glasses and left their rented office space. Once outside Dakota put his hands into his pockets and made his way towards their time travel vehicle. He wasn't actually planning on going back in time, but their old car worked just as well as a normal vehicle.

It wasn't until Dakota got into the car did he realize that he had failed to grab the keys from Cavendish. He knew that he could easily just go back upstairs really quickly, it shouldn't take more than a minute, but there really wasn't a lot of need, not for Dakota. The car may be in bad shape, but it was still a time vehicle from the future, with advanced technology that Dakota was familiar with more than anything. It took barely any effort for Dakota to hack into the time vehicle's systems, turning the car on without the key.

Dakota drove the short distance to his location. He parked the car when he was about a block away, just in case. There was no predicting just what could happen at that house, and this time vehicle was already pretty run-down, especially after Cavendish had run it into a brick wall earlier that day. They were already in trouble with Mr. Block, they really shouldn't make that any worse by letting the car getting crushed by a tree.

Dakota left the car behind and made his way down the street to the Murphy house. Milo hadn't actually told him and Cavendish where he lived, but just as Dakota had been able to find information about the Murphy family and their supposed family jinx, he had easily been able to find their address in this time period. It turned out that there was a government group in the agency that had extensive information about the Murphy family and the risk that they were. They'd even gone so far as to map out what they called the 'Murphy sector'. It was quite impressive.

Dakota walked up to the front door and knocked. Milo didn't open the door, but Sara did.

"Oh, hey, it's you," Sara didn't even sound surprised to see him. Dakota guessed this made things a little less awkward. "There aren't any more killer pistachios in the area, are there?"

"Nope, 'fraid not," Dakota smirked. "I just wanted to talk to Milo. He around?"

"Yeah, one minute," Sara said. She stepped back and turned towards the stairs and shouted up them. "Hey, Milo, a friend of yours is here."

Dakota frowned slightly in confusion. He and Milo were at 'friend' status? Dakota's records told him that people often became 'friends' either through prolonged exposure to each other and comradery, or because of a meaningful single experience. Dakota supposed that the second circumstance may apply here, but he hadn't really expected it.

"Coming!" Milo called down from upstairs. A moment later he came down from upstairs, pausing momentarily when he saw who his visitor was. "Oh, hey Dakota," Milo grinned. "What's going on?"

"Hey, kid, I just wanted to have a word with you. You mind?" Dakota jerked his thumb behind him. The front porch would be as private and yet secure a place as any other.

"Sure," Milo said cheerfully. He followed Dakota outside without a moment's hesitation. Dakota briefly thought that Milo should be more cautious, as it could be really dangerous for anybody to go somewhere with a near stranger, especially alone and at night. The safety lecture could wait until later though. Right now, Dakota had come here for a reason, and he wasn't going to distract himself with needless concerns. "What's up?"

"I, uh," Dakota grimaced and rubbed the back of his neck. This was a lot harder than his sources implied it should be. "Listen, kid, I wanted to...to apologize."

"Apologize?" Milo frowned slightly in confusion and slight worry. "What do you have to be sorry for?"

Dakota leaned against the front door and stared absently out towards the street. "A lot more than you think." Dakota took a deep breath and decided that just getting it all out quickly would be the best way to do this. There was no point in beating around the bush. "It's my fault that you were ever in danger today, and...and I'm sorry about that."

"Your fault?" Milo's concern deepened. "What are you talking about? You didn't do anything."

Dakota held up a hand to stop Milo. "No, I did, I just...It's a long story. I need you to just listen to me. I promise, it'll all make sense. I just need you to let me explain...please." Dakota didn't know what he was doing, this hadn't been part of the plan. He had come here to apologize to Milo, not explain all of these things to him. They weren't supposed to talk about the future with people from the past, but Milo already knew about time travel, he had already been to the future,what would be the harm in telling him a little more?

"You know about A.I., right?" Dakota asked, because if Milo was going to understand things, then he had to understand _everything._ Milo nodded and Dakota continued. "Can you imagine what A.I. might be like in the future, in 2175?"

Milo's eyes widened. "Wow, I guess I've never thought about it before," Milo looked excited at the idea. "Maybe the A.I. robots will be so advanced that they'll look, act, and think so much like humans do that there will barely be any difference between us anymore."

Dakota chuckled at Milo's enthusiasm. "Yeah, something like that, though there's a big difference between robots and computers. You're excited though, so I'll let it slide," Dakota reached up and took off his sunglasses, revealing his bright orange and sparking eye. Milo had looked excited before, but now he looked so ecstatic that Dakota wouldn't be surprised if he fainted.

"You...you're a computer?" Milo asked in awe.

"Yep," Dakota put his glasses in his pocket. "All time travelers get a little computer about yea big programmed into their brain," Dakota held his fingers apart to show how small the Squip actually was. "The computer's called a Squip. I'm Cavendish's Squip."

"Wow," Milo's eyes shone with imagination and wonder. A moment later Milo's excitement dimmed. "But why would that make you more responsible for any danger I might have been in? Do you feel like you didn't do enough to keep me safe?"

"Not exactly," Dakota shrugged. Milo was a resourceful kid, he could take care of himself better than Dakota ever could. "It wasn't what I _could_ have done, it's what I _did_ do. And what I did was drag you into the situation because I thought you might be of use to my goal."

"What are you talking about?" Milo frowned, and there was finally a look of caution and reluctance in his eyes. Milo was unnerved. That was good.

"I knew that Cavendish had left behind his quantum localizer." Dakota said. "I didn't grab it, because I knew that you would notice it, and would return it to use. Considering Murphy's law, I figured that if you followed me and Cavendish while we tried to borrow a different time vehicle, you would accidentally be dragged along with us. Though, it's not much of an accident when I knew it would probably happen."

"You...you knew what would happen?" Milo still sounded cautious, but that curiosity was back in his eyes. "How?"

"I calculated the probability," Dakota said. "Granted, Murphy's law complicated things, but I was careful to take it into account in my calculations."

"So...you _wanted_ me to go with you to the future?" Milo asked. "Why?"

"Because I'd looked into the probability of stopping the pistachions, and your presence increased our chances by 54.9%." Dakota said. He could practically see the gears spinning in Milo's mind.

"Uh, I thought you guys didn't know about the pistachions until _after_ we got to the future." Milo pointed out. He was an observant kid.

" _Cavendish_ didn't know about it," Dakota said. "But I did, because I'm the one who arranged for the pistachios to become sentient in the first place."

Milo froze, his caution and reluctance becoming blatant fear. Dakota hated that look in Milo's eyes, he hated being feared. "Wh-what do you mean?"

Dakota looked Milo in the eyes, feeling a slight pang of hurt when he saw Milo flinch slightly. Was Milo scared of him because of what he'd done, or because of what he _was_? Dakota frowned and took out his sunglasses again, which he put back on over his eyes. Maybe Milo, like Cavendish, wouldn't be so bothered by the fact that he was a computer if he couldn't see any physical sign of it.

"Just like I'd calculated the probability of you following us, and predicted how helpful you would be to make things right, I'd calculated and predicted the circumstances that would cause the pistachions to become sentient and dangerous, and I'd manipulated the circumstances to make it happen."

"But...wait a second," Milo frowned slightly, that look of confusion coming back, mostly replacing the fear. "Why would you arrange for the pistachio incident to happen, only to arrange to undo it all?"

"Because that was the whole point of it," Dakota said, like it was obvious, because to him it was. "I didn't do it because I wanted to see the world burn. That's a stereotype of robots and computers, like if they become too smart then they'll try to overthrow the humans or something," Dakota rolled his eyes. "I did it for Cavendish."

"For...Cavendish?" Milo raised an eyebrow. "What does Cavendish have to do with this?"

"Everything," Dakota smiled slightly. "Every instinct in my programming is dedicated to helping Cavendish, and that includes helping him progress with his job. He's not all that respected by our fellow time travelers. They treat him really terribly. Cavendish has always wanted to be a hero, to save the world, and he also wanted to be respected. I doubted that Cavendish would just be handed the opportunity to make something of himself. I knew he would be able to prove himself, he just needed the chance."

"...And since your boss wasn't going to give him the chance, you decided to make one for yourself?" Milo asked. Dakota nodded.

"Yeah, but I dragged you into it, and I didn't really have any right to do that to you or your friends. "Dakota said. "So I'm sorry."

Milo tilted his head slightly. His fear was all but gone at this point. "You're sorry for involving me...but not for causing it in the first place?"

"Yeah, of course," Dakota said. "My calculations told me that we'd be able to undo any mess that I made. But no matter what calculations I made, I couldn't really account for Murphy's law. I didn't have a guarantee that you would be completely safe, but I involved you anyways. That was wrong."

"And...creating killer pistachios wasn't?" Milo asked quietly. He had that concerned look back on his face, just like the one he'd had when he hadn't understood why Dakota had blamed himself.

"No, like I said, I knew we would be able to undo anything that I had done." Dakota said automatically. "I did something wrong, but it was for a justifiable reason, and we fixed things, didn't we? Other than the six of us, nobody even knows what happened. No harm done."

"Uh, that's not really how it works," Milo chuckled somewhat nervously. "Do you know _why_ what you did is considered wrong?"

"Of course," Dakota did a quick search through his sources, not because he had to, but just by instinct. "If the pistachions had won, they would have hurt people. But they didn't win, nobody got hurt."

"Yeah, but they _might_ have." Milo pointed out. He frowned slightly and thought for a moment. "Actually...uh, imagine if somebody tried to hurt someone else, but they were stopped and nobody got hurt. The person who tried to cause the pain said that they had been trying to help the other person to be stronger. Would the attacker be right, or wrong?"

Dakota frowned. Milo's words caused that horrible feeling of guilt to come back. It wasn't as bad as before, but it was still there. Milo was appealing to his human emotions, but what did his extensive computer knowledge have to say about it? Dakota did a quick search of his databases. He didn't find an exact match to Milo's hypothetical example, but he was able to find enough knowledge that he could logically understand.

"Okay, yeah, you've got a fair point." Dakota admitted. Milo gave him a small smile.

"So, you're not going to do something about this again?" Milo asked, then he seemed to change his mind. "Actually, if you are tempted to do something wrong for a good reason, maybe you can talk it over with me first? Get a second opinion on it?" Milo offered out his hand like they were making a deal. Dakota stared at it in confusion.

"I don't understand," Dakota said. "You seemed distressed, you think what I did was wrong. You were _afraid_ of me."

"Well, yeah, a bit," Milo said. There was a small look of guilt in the kid's eyes, though Dakota didn't know why it was there. "But you're a computer, right? You seem really human, but you're still different. It makes sense that you don't really understand things the way that people do. You don't _seem_ malicious, just a bit confused about what we think right and wrong are. Has anybody ever taught you?"

"Eh, not really," Dakota shrugged. "Squips are programmed to accomplish their mission no matter the costs."

"And your 'mission' was to help Cavendish to save the world," Milo nodded. It wasn't exactly what Dakota's mission was, more like his own personal goal, but it was close enough. "Me getting involved was part of your 'mission', but you still felt bad about it, because you knew it was wrong. I know you _can_ recognize right and wrong outside of you main mission, you just might need a bit of help with it, and that's okay."

"And you're offering to help teach me?" Dakota stared at Milo's still extended hand. "Why are you still being nice to me?"

"Because we're friends," Milo said, as though it was obvious, which it really wasn't. Dakota hadn't even known that they had qualified as friends before he'd come here, and after all that Milo had learned he was still willing to call him that? This went against the majority of Dakota's references on human behavior. Somehow, Milo's kindness surprised Dakota more than his resourcefulness. Milo's grin dimmed when he noticed Dakota's hesitence. "Unless you don't _want_ to be friends, and that's fine, I just thought-"

"What? No, of _course_ I want to be friends," Dakota insisted, and he meant it. He hadn't allowed himself to get close to anybody other than Cavendish. It felt odd, but nice. "I just don't entirely understand why _you_ would want to be friends with _me."_ Still, Dakota accepted Milo's handshake, which caused the boy to beam at him.

"We can work on that too," Milo said with cheerful confidence, though Dakota didn't really know what he was talking about. "You don't have any other secret plans to 'save' the world, do you?" Milo asked somewhat cautiously. Dakota didn't blame him for that, he kinda deserved it.

"Not right now I don't," Dakota said. When Milo gave him a sharp look he changed his tune slightly. "But if I do, you'll be the first to know so you can morally talk me out of it, okay?"

"Okay!" Milo looked way too happy for a boy who had basically signed up to the the moral compass of a supercomputer from the future. A moment later Milo's excited grin fell slightly. "But...what if I'm busy, or you can't get ahold of me?"

"Uh, I don't know." Dakota frowned slightly. Somehow, he hadn't even considered that possibility, though he really should have. "What do you want to do? We don't exactly have a backup moral compass lying around. I don't think most people will be as accepting of me almost destroying the world as you are."

"Yeah, I guess not," Milo said, looking somewhat dejected. A moment later Milo's grin picked up again. "Oh, what about Cavendish? You're always around him, right?"

"No!" Dakota said so intensely that he felt his eye spark. Milo looked taken aback by his outburst. Dakota felt that guilt again, though it was smaller than the other times. Now that he had recognized guilt when he felt it, would he just be feeling it for every little thing that he did even remotely wrong? "Sorry, I just...Cavendish _can't_ know about this, he would flip out."

Milo frowned. "But you two are partners, and you said that you did this for _him._ I really think that Cavendish should know."

"Yeah, maybe," Dakota ran a hand through his hair. He wasn't so sure about this, but Milo was giving him this stern and yet pleading look that he just couldn't say no to. "Look, I'll tell him later, but maybe we should let things calm down a bit first."

"You _promise_ you'll tell him?" Milo asked, though somehow it didn't seem like he was truly pushing Dakota to do something he didn't feel comfortable with. He just sounded concerned.

"Tell you what, if I haven't told him by noon in two days, I'll tell him then," Dakota suggested while he made a mental note to himself. He even put 'tell Cavendish the truth' on there as a personal agenda, which his programming wouldn't let him avoid doing. He wouldn't be able to chicken out or put it off any longer than he had already planned.

"Okay," Milo said. He didn't look disappointed that Dakota was procrastinating, but proud that he was planning on doing it at all. "If you want to talk at all, just call me, alright? And don't worry about Cavendish. I'm sure after you explain things to him like you did to me, he'll understand."

Milo's confidence was contagious. Dakota grinned at him. "Yeah, I guess you're right." Cavendish may be a stick in the mud who saw things in a very black and white kind of way, but Dakota knew for a fact that, though they were few, there were instances where Cavendish accepted shades of gray as being a fact of life. Maybe this would be one of those times. Milo was probably right, everything would work out just fine.

* * *

 **A/N: Guess who got to see _Be More Chill_ last week? Yeah, that's right, it was this person right here, and it was amazing. I didn't get to see the Broadway production (that would have been just way too awesome and out of my price range), but my brother's college was doing the show, so I got to see it then (unfortunately, my brother wasn't in the show itself).**

 **On a more related note, adorable, supportive Milo is adorable and supportive. That is all.**


	7. Chapter 7

After they had defeated the pistachions and fixed the timeline, Dakota had started to experience emotions more strongly than any Squip ever should. Well, that wasn't exactly the case. Dakota had always had these emotions, but after he had identified guilt about dragging Milo into the whole pistachion mess it just _seemed_ like it was so much worse. Maybe after identifying one complicated emotion for what it was, his systems were now more familiar with the process and could do it much more easily. Maybe he was subconsciously trying to feel emotions more similarly to how a human would feel them. Maybe there was a malfunction in his system (at least, more than usual), that was making him imagine all of these things. He wasn't really sure, and thinking about it stressed him out and overheated his systems slightly, which would just make him even more stressed because he knew that Cavendish would be able to feel it, even if he didn't understand just what was going on.

It was times like this that Dakota wondered if things would be easier if he was either a fully functional Squip or a human being like Cavendish was. If he was a proper Squip, he wouldn't have to worry about emotions like this. If he was a human, he would still have the emotions, but maybe he wouldn't be trying to analyze them so much because they would be completely normal. His emotions wouldn't make him a freak of nature, they'd just make him human.

Dakota had promised Milo that he would tell Cavendish about just what he had done. The closer he got to his self-appointed deadline, the more stressed he got about it, except he didn't think that was quite it.

Dakota was familiar with the feeling of stress. He couldn't say for sure, but he thought that even Squips like Savannah experienced stress of some kind, just because of how they were programmed. They were expected to get the work done perfectly, while also working with humans, who were, by nature, imperfect and unpredictable. It was a crazy balance that made theirs jobs really hard.

So, no, this wasn't stress. He didn't feel overworked or frustrated when he thought of what could go wrong when he told Cavendish, he just felt worried and, strangely enough, scared. Dakota had easily been able to identify that what he was feeling was probably anxiety, but that just confused him even more. All of Dakota's records told him that anxiety could be a feeling, but it could also be something much more intense than that. He didn't entirely understand it, and he felt even more anxious whenever he tried.

Did humans' emotions become such a destructive and exhausting cycle? If so, how did they do it all the time?

One positive (if someone could call it that) about having all of these overwhelming feelings was that they were so strong that they almost distracted Dakota from the very thing that he was so anxious about in the first place. Dakota didn't know if that was normal, to get anxious about something, only for that anxiety to grow so much until you were getting anxious about just how anxious you were, and you forgot about what was worrying you in the first place.

Dakota didn't know if that was the case for humans. For all he knew, he was the only one who felt something like this. If he was the only one, well, that would just be one more thing that would make Dakota weird compared to everybody else. At this point Dakota would probably be more confused to find that what he was thinking and feeling wasn't so different after all.

Dakota was so stuck in his own thoughts and emotions that he was sure that Cavendish could feel it. Cavendish kept on looking at Dakota in confusion and slight concern, but he never asked about what was going on. Cavendish was probably waiting for Dakota to open up to him, but considering the whole reason why Dakota was anxious in the first place was because he didn't _want_ to talk to Cavendish, that wasn't going to happen. Not until Dakota was unable to put it off for any longer.

Unfortunately, that moment came a lot sooner than he would have wanted it to.

Dakota and Cavendish were on their way to lunch two days after that whole pistachion incident when Dakota felt a mental alarm go off in his programming. It wasn't an alarm that indicated that something was wrong, it was just one to tell him that he had run out of time. Of course, in this particular case, Dakota couldn't help but feel like the two were one in the same.

Cavendish stopped in his tracks and down at his watch in slight confusion. "Are we supposed to be somewhere right now?" Dakota rubbed the back of his neck. He was a supercomputer programmed right into Cavendish's brain. Dakota should have known that an alarm that he had set up for himself would alert Cavendish too.

"Sorry, Cav, that's for me," Dakota said, letting the nickname slip without even thinking about it. "I've, uh, I've got something super important to talk to you about."

Cavendish frowned slightly, a look of concern in his eyes. "O-of course," He looked around. "Did you want to speak in the restaurant, or-"

"Actually, I think we should go somewhere a little more private, you know?" Dakota suggested. "You can always eat later." Cavendish stared at Dakota in shock. Dakota always went out of his way to make sure that Cavendish ate all the food that he needed, and possibly even a little bit more. Cavendish had said before that if he didn't know that Dakota was a computer that was incapable of eating food, he would think that he was obsessed with eating. And yet here Dakota was, prioritizing a serious conversation over eating. Of course Cavendish was confused and concerned.

"O-okay," Cavendish said quietly. He took Dakota's hand and let himself be lead off towards the park. Normally Cavendish wouldn't be so willing to demonstrate anything that even remotely resembled physical affection, especially not in public. Dakota knew why Cavendish had taken his hand in the first place, so that he could check to see if he was warm to the touch and overheating, which he wasn't. Dakota just didn't know why Cavendish hadn't let go of him.

Dakota lead them to a somewhat secluded park in the city. There were people around, but there weren't a lot, and the few of them around were minding their own business. They would have a decent amount of privacy here. Dakota took a seat on a nearby bench, with Cavendish sitting right next to him.

"Is something wrong?" Cavendish asked.

"That depends who you ask, I guess," Dakota shrugged. He didn't _feel_ like he'd done anything wrong, but, as Milo had pointed out to him, he had.

"I'm asking you," Cavendish said with a frown.

"Yeah, I guess you are," Dakota chuckled and leaned back. His anxiety about telling Cavendish was even worse now than it had been before, and he hadn't thought that was possible. Dakota wasn't ready for this. He didn't want to tell Cavendish at all, let alone now. If he could, he would put it off until later, but it wasn't possible. When Dakota had given himself that deadline, that was it, telling Cavendish at this time was now in his programming. He couldn't avoid it anymore. Whether he liked it or not, this was the time.

Just like when he had told Milo, Dakota just told Cavendish what was on his mind. He couldn't worry about what Cavendish would say. He couldn't try to figure out how Cavendish would react. He just had to go for it and hope for the best.

Dakota didn't dare to look at Cavendish as he told him about how this whole pistachion incident had been planned. He just talked, and once he got started it was like he couldn't stop. In just a few minutes Dakota had explained everything. He had rushed through his explanation a bit, and now he wished that he had take his time. Describing what had happened wasn't what made him nervous, Cavendish's reaction to it was, and now that he was done talking that was exactly what he was about to deal with.

When Dakota stopped talking, the two of them sat in silence for a bit. Dakota began bouncing his foot slightly, and he somehow couldn't get himself to stop. He glanced up and looked towards Cavendish, whose face was blank and revealed absolutely nothing about what he was thinking. Dakota tried to read into Cavendish's actual thoughts, but somehow those were even more blank and unreadable than his expression was. Dakota was getting scared now.

"...Okay, I get that you're pretty freaked out right now," Dakota said. He tried hard to keep his voice even, to not let Cavendish know just how freaked out he himself was. "I know you might want to, I don't know, yell at me or something, and I'd be really cool with that. You can yell at me, scold me, call me a malfunctional idiot," Dakota's voice cracked and Cavendish's eye twitched slightly. "Just... _say_ something...please."

"I...you…" Cavendish took a deep breath and steeled his expression even more, which Dakota hadn't thought was possible. "What were you thinking?"

"What was I...Cav, I just barely _told_ you what I was thinking." Dakota frowned.

"But it doesn't make any sense!" Cavendish said sharply, going back to sounding like his easily agitated, normal old self. Dakota wished that this really was like how things used to be, but he knew it wasn't. As annoyed as Cavendish was, he was just getting started. "What could possibly possess you to think that _destroying the world and all of humanity_ would be a good idea?"

"Hey, I didn't do any of that," Dakota said sternly, because he hadn't. Why was that so hard for Cavendish to understand? Milo got it, and he was just a child. "I told you, for you to be able to save the world, like you've told me dozens of times is your goal, then the world has to be in danger first. In danger, yeah, but not _destroyed._ "

"This wasn't what I wanted," Cavendish glared at Dakota. " _Not_ like this, Dakota. What...why would you…" Cavendish's expression darkened suddenly, and Dakota was alarmed to realize that he was actually a little scared of his partner right now. "...This is because of your defective system, isn't it?"

"Wh-what?" Dakota flinched. Cavendish knew how sensitive Dakota was about his deficiencies. Was he really so mad that he would bring it up like this? Dakota had been worried about telling Cavendish, but his partner was reacting worse than Dakota had worried he would.

Cavendish got to his feet. "The bureau wouldn't be using Squips if they were all vicious monsters that tried to destroy the world when left to their own devices for five minutes."

Dakota leaned away from Cavendish, who had started pacing furiously. "Hey, you don't see me saying that your social awkwardness and unwillingness to listen to any idea that isn't your own is the reason why you're not going anywhere in the bureau."

" _Excuse_ me?!" Cavendish turned back towards Dakota, pure fury in his eyes. Dakota held up his hands defensively.

"Hey, what I just said, you know that isn't what I actually think, it's what _you_ think, and are extremely sensitive about." Dakota glared at Cavendish. "You know, this is why you have a hard time making friends. You keep on saying the first thing that pops into your head and never think about how you would feel if they said something like that to you. That's something we'll just have to-"

"No," Cavendish interrupted. " _We're_ not doing anything...not anymore." Cavendish shook his head. "I can't deal with you right now." Cavendish began to storm away. Dakota sat where he was and just watched Cavendish leave. That really hadn't gone the way he had wanted it to. There were very few ways that it could have gone worse, and Dakota found himself thinking over all of those possibilities.

Even worse though was that Dakota couldn't keep himself from thinking about all of the possible ways that things could get even worse. There were so many ways, and Dakota was too stressed to properly think things through. He could imagine what could happen from this point on, but he couldn't focus and calm down enough to think through just what could cause the worst possible scenarios. He didn't know if giving Cavendish his space would give him the chance to calm down, or if it would just give him the chance to do something really stupid that they would both regret in the future.

Dakota didn't know what to do, so he just sat there, numbly. He groaned and put his hands in his hair, resting his elbows on his knees. What was the use of being capable of foreseeing all of these possibilities when his thoughts were getting so jumbled up that he couldn't do anything with this knowledge except get even more stressed out by it?

"Dakota?" He blinked and looked up to see Milo in front of him, his eyes shining in concern. "Are you okay?"

"I, uh, I don't know," Dakota said honestly. He saw Milo's friend's standing right behind him. They didn't know what he was, and he didn't know how they would react if they knew. He was tired of working with so many variables. "You remember that thing that we talked about a few days ago? The thing that he told me to talk to Cavendish about?"

Milo's eyes widened. He looked shocked, and a little bit unnerved about the reminder, but when Milo smiled Dakota was relieved to see just how sincere it was. At least Milo was somewhat okay with this whole thing. "Oh yeah, did you tell him yet? How did it go?"

"Uh, not so good," Dakota grimaced and rubbed the back of his neck. "I-I think I seriously screwed up." Dakota didn't know if he was talking about his conversation with Cavendish, or his whole plan with the pistachions, he just felt like he had really messed up _something_ and he didn't know how to make it better.

"I-I'm sorry about that," Milo frowned. He actually looked truly saddened just because Dakota was feeling pretty down. Dakota wondered if Milo was naturally this sympathetic, or if it was something that he had taught himself. It certainly made him much different from Cavendish. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Talking was what had caused Dakota to feel like this in the first place. It should be the last thing that he would want to do, so he was surprised to find just how appealing the suggestion was. "Actually, yeah, I kinda do." Dakota didn't think he should be around Cavendish right now, but he really didn't want to be alone either. He was glad that Milo apparently actually wanted to be around him. He didn't quite understand it, but he was too grateful to say anything about it. He was just glad for Milo's willingness to help, even though they barely knew each other, and what Milo _did_ know about him wasn't all that good.

Milo was a good kid. He deserved better than to be friends with a defective Squip like him. Maybe Milo just didn't understand that Dakota didn't function the way that his programming said he should, so he didn't have any reason to distrust him other than the fact that he had caused an army of sentient pistachios to nearly take over the world.

Dakota really didn't understand Milo, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. He was just going to appreciate the help, and the company, because at that moment he really felt like he needed a friend.


	8. Chapter 8

Dakota frowned and put his hands in his pockets as he followed behind Milo and his friends. Milo had asked if he'd wanted to talk about what had happened with Cavendish, but it would have to wait until they were alone. At least for now, Dakota didn't think it would be smart to tell Milo's friends about just what he was. Sure, they might be as welcoming about it as Milo was, or they might freak out. Or they might just not believe him at all and think that he was crazy.

Dakota normally didn't care about predicting the future completely accurately. He was normally fine with going with the flow a bit. Maybe it was because of this whole thing with Cavendish, but at that moment Dakota hated not knowing what could happen. He felt like he had no control of anything, and there was a big difference between relaxing and letting things happen, and spiraling out of uncontrol.

Dakota walked silently behind Milo and the others, blocking out their conversation. Just because he was there didn't mean that he had to listen in on their personal conversation. He may be a super computer, but just because he was capable of invading people's privacy didn't mean that he actively liked doing it.

For the most part the kids ignored him, though he saw Milo glance back and look at him in concern every once and awhile. Milo didn't say anything to him, though Dakota could tell he really wanted to. Whether it was because his friends were there, or because he saw something in Dakota's expression that made him hold his tongue, Dakota wasn't sure.

While walking in silence Dakota didn't want to let his thoughts wander, because he knew he would just end up stressing himself out again, just like before. Instead of overprocessing every little thought that popped into his head, Dakota just let his mind go blank and shut down. Kind of like the 'sleep' mode on computers that Cavendish encouraged him to use every once and awhile, except his body was still functioning. He just tried to turn his mind off, while still being aware of what was going on around him.

"Hey, you doing okay over there, Dakota?" The girl, Melissa asked suddenly. Dakota blinked and could practically feel his systems starting up again, except it felt different, somehow. Something was wrong. "You're looking a little hot over there."

Dakota looked down at himself. He didn't _feel_ hot, but he knew that how he physically felt was different than how his skin might feel to the touch. Almost as though he had read his mind, Milo came closer to Dakota and reached his hand up to rest against his forehead. It was a good thing that Milo had done this, because when Milo's hand came in contact with Dakota's skin there was a small shock that they both felt. It wasn't like static electricity, but like the kind of shock you might feel if you touched an open wire.

Dakota and Milo looked at each other in shock. It wasn't unusual for Dakota's physical form to reflect his core systems, like how his skin would feel warm if his systems were overheated. Or the way that his eye was discolored and constantly sparked. This was unexpected though, and neither of them knew what it meant.

Milo seemed to recover from the shock sooner than Dakota did. "He feels a little warm," Milo reported back to his friends.

"I don't feel sick though," Dakota said, and that was the truth. He was confused, that much he was sure of, but physically he felt fine. Although, now that he thought about it…"I mean, _zutsū ga shimasu-"_ Dakota's eyes widened and he slapped a hand over his mouth. That...that _definitely_ wasn't supposed to happen.

The kids all stared at him like he had suddenly grown another head, though considering he had randomly started speaking _Japanese_ , he didn't blame them.

"Uh, are you _sure_ you're okay?" Zack asked, a wary look of concern in his eyes, though Dakota really couldn't tell if he was worried about him, or if he was worried about what he could do to them.

" _Watashi wa...ugh,"_ Dakota grimaced and clenched his eyes shut tight. His had hurt a little bit, which is what he'd tried to say earlier, but now it felt even worse. It was like a connection to his core systems had been blocked off, and he didn't know what functions he was lacking. "I'm fine, I just...I don't know what I'm doing."

Zack still looked worried, but his caution was mostly replaced with sympathy. "How _are_ you feeling, if you're not sick?"

"Uh," Dakota thought about that for a moment. He didn't really know how he felt. He didn't even know if he just didn't recognize some new feelings that had crept up on him, or if he just couldn't focus enough to actually identify what he was feeling. He didn't just want to not provide answers though, so he said the first things that came to his mind. "Kinda disconnected, I feel like I _should_ feel anxious, but I don't," Dakota just felt confused about what was going on. He was aware of what had been making him so worried before, but those feelings just weren't there anymore. It was a little unnerving. "Oh, I also feel like everything is happening kinda slow." He didn't know how to describe it beyond that. It didn't exactly feel all that slow, but just enough for it to be noticeable.

Zack nodded, and Dakota decided that he really didn't like that look in his eyes. It seemed like Zack had an idea of what was going on, and Dakota hated it, because he felt like he was wandering around blindly. "Dude, please, don't take this the wrong way, but are you drunk?"

Milo and Dakota both looked at Zack like _he_ was the one who had suddenly started speaking another language. "Drunk?" Milo looked from Zack to Dakota in confusion. Milo didn't say anything, but Dakota could see the unspoken question in his eyes. ' _Is it possible for you to get drunk?'_

The answer was 'no'. Dakota was a computer. He _couldn't_ get drunk. _Cavendish,_ however…

" _Kuso_ ," Dakota swore in Japanese before he could think to censor himself or watch what language he was using. "Cavendish, what did you _do?"_

Zack and Melissa looked at each other in confusion, but Milo seemed to at least have an idea of what Dakota was talking about. He looked alarmed and very concerned. Milo turned towards his friends. "Hey, guys, I think Dakota needs some help right now. Can I catch up with you later?"

Zack looked extremely worried, though Dakota didn't know if that concern was more for him, or for Milo. Melissa though nodded and nudged Zack's arm. "Yeah, we'll see you later, Milo."

Dakota frowned as Milo took his hand and pulled him down the street towards his house. Milo didn't say anything as they walked, he just held tightly to Dakota's hand, regardless of the constant shock that they both felt at the connection. Dakota still didn't know exactly what that spark meant, but he had a pretty good idea of _why_ it was there.

Once they got to Milo's house the boy lead the way into the backyard. Their little journey couldn't have taken more than a few minutes, but Dakota's head, which had been hurting before, felt like it was splitting his head apart.

"Are you okay?" Milo asked once they were in the privacy of his backyard. Dakota was about to say that he was fine when his remaining connection to his systems seemed to shut off completely. Dakota's vision and thoughts seemed to shut down entirely. One second he was there, and the next he just kinda stopped existing entirely. Of course, Dakota didn't feel anything at all while he had been out of it, but when he came back to he _definitely_ felt the difference.

"Dakota?!" Milo's concerned expression was the first thing that Dakota saw when his vision returned to him. "What happened? You just...you disappeared."

Dakota felt a sudden spike of anxiety in his chest. He had glitched out? That wasn't good. It really, _really_ wasn't good. "He hates me...Cavendish actually hates me."

"What...what did Cavendish do?" Milo asked, like he was scared to hear the answer. "You mentioned him earlier. If _he_ gets drunk, would you feel it too?"

"Kinda," Dakota took his glasses off and looked at them. "Alcohol messes with your brain, and Squips are programmed right into the brain. It messes with my connection to Cavendish, and I guess it messes with my programming too, a bit." It was why Dakota had slipped into speaking Japanese when he hadn't thought about it. Squips had been created in Japan, so the language was in their initial programming. Squips automatically adjusted their programming to accommodate the language that their partner was most comfortable with. It was such a basic part of their function, and it really worried Dakota that it had been messed with.

"M-maybe Cavendish didn't know?" Milo suggested, trying to stay optimistic, though there was a look of doubt in his eyes.

Dakota shook his head. "When Cavendish first got me, he went to talk to another time traveler about just what Squips are. I'm sure that this would have been the first thing he would have been told. And Cavendish _hates_ drinking. He wouldn't do it for fun, or even because he was stressed. He did this _because_ he knew it would mess with me."

"Why would he do that?" Milo asked, and he actually looked pained on Dakota's behalf. "Why would he want to hurt you like that?"

"Honestly, I don't think he was thinking about hurting me," Dakota said, and somehow that made it hurt even more. "Cavendish said that I was a _monster_ , he's probably worried that I would do something to hurt someone else."

"But-but you _wouldn't,"_ Milo said confidently, though he immediately changed his mind. "I mean, you wouldn't _try_ to."

"He doesn't believe that," Dakota said. "And he's not going to listen to me if I try to talk to him." Dakota was sure that was at least part of the reason why Cavendish had gotten himself drunk, so that Dakota wouldn't be able to communicate easily with him.

Dakota wasn't anywhere near Cavendish, and yet the man was still worried about his influence. Was he really that afraid of him?

Milo frowned. "I _really_ think you need to talk to Cavendish."

Dakota grimaced. "He's not going to like it," But he knew that Milo was right. Cavendish was really good at running away from complicated emotions, and he was the master at letting his desire for being a hero evolve into a sense of self-righteousness. If Dakota just left Cavendish on his own, the man might just continue to let himself be drunk for as long as he could, and that wouldn't do either of them any good.

Dakota sighed and closed his eyes. If he was going to be talking to Cavendish, he had to find where he was. It was a lot harder than it should be. Dakota searched and searched for a few moments without finding anything when finally he noticed something that he could work with. Though Dakota felt the need to double check what he had found, because it didn't seem right.

Dakota's records showed that his and Cavendish's car had been used for time traveling just a few minutes ago. Was Cavendish so desperate to get as far away from Dakota as he could that he was driving their time vehicle while he was _drunk?_ Why would he do that? And why would he travel back to 1965? That time period held no meaning to Cavendish. Was he just trying to get as far away from Dakota as he could and had just chosen a random time period to escape to? Or maybe the car had broken down in the middle of time traveling and just sent Cavendish to the nearest time (It wouldn't be the first time it had happened).

Whatever the case, Dakota knew that Cavendish wouldn't be gone forever, and when he came back, they would definitely need to talk. Dakota sighed and put his glasses back on. He really wasn't looking forward to this. "I should probably head back to our apartment, be there before Cavendish gets back, you know?"

Even though Milo had been the one to encourage Dakota to talk to Cavendish, he suddenly looked very anxious about it. "Do you want me to go with you?" Dakota considered the idea. He would appreciate the company, and it might help to have a buffer there when they talked. However, Cavendish would probably still be drunk, and Dakota didn't know what kind of drunk Cavendish was. If he was violent when he was drunk (unlikely, but still a possibility), then Dakota would be putting Milo in danger by bringing him along.

"Nah, I'll be fine," Dakota said casually. He had already put Milo in danger because his presence would be convenient, he wasn't going to do it again. "I'll see you later, Milo,"

"Tomorrow?" Milo asked, a flash of concern in his eyes. Dakota paused. The kid really seemed worried about him. It wouldn't feel right to make him sit and worry for any longer than he had to.

"Yeah, I'll come by and see you tomorrow, or at the very least I'll call, alright?" Dakota suggested. He wouldn't leave the kid hanging.

Milo immediately relaxed at Dakota's words. "Alright," Dakota grinned and put his hands in his pockets to keep himself from ruffling Milo's hair. He didn't want to accidentally shock the kid again. "Bye, Dakota,"

Maybe it was just because he was nervous about what would happen with Cavendish, but Dakota felt nervous hearing Milo saying goodbye to him. It felt kinda permanent. Dakota pushed back the feeling though, told himself that his nerves were just making him paranoid about everything, and went on his way back to the apartment.

As Dakota walked, he began to try to search through his database again. It was hard to focus on anything though. It was like all of Dakota's files had been jumbled up and then haphazardly thrown together again. All of Dakota's data was still right there, but it wasn't where it should be, and he didn't know how to go about looking for it. It was a bit of a miracle that he'd been able to find records that showed that Cavendish had travelled back to 1965 in the first place.

It wasn't long before Dakota returned to the strip mall where their office that doubled as a sorry excuse for an apartment was. It wasn't until he got there though did Dakota realize that Cavendish was the one with the keys. Dakota wouldn't be able to get in. Dakota groaned and sat down on the stairs that lead up to the second floor of the strip mall. This just wasn't his day.

Dakota grimaced and closed his eyes. He rested his elbows on his knees and massaged his head slightly with his hands. His headache had calmed down slightly, but it still felt like somebody was pounding on his head like a drum. Dakota wondered if Cavendish was feeling this pain too.

"Dakota?" Huh, speak of the devil. Dakota lifted his head and turned towards the parking lot. Cavendish was there, sitting in the car. He must have just gotten back. Dakota gave his partner a little wave. Cavendish certainly looked better than Dakota felt. Sure, Cavendish's eyes were slightly bloodshot, and he looked like he was going to be sick, but Dakota got the impression that this was because of something else.

Cavendish stared at Dakota for a bit, turned to look at something next to him, and then looked at Dakota again, a look of grief in his eyes. "What are you doing here?" Cavendish slowly opened the door of the car and got out, though not before grabbing something, an orange bottle, from the seat next to him. Cavendish clutched the bottle sightly with both hands, hiding the label.

Dakota stood up and took a step towards Cavendish, though stopped when the man flinched. Right, he still thought that Dakota was dangerous. "I really think we need to talk about what happened."

Cavendish's grip on the bottle tightened as he glanced down at it and swallowed thickly. "No, I think it would be best if we didn't." Cavendish's voice was even, but it sounded forced, like he was just seconds away from either exploding at Dakota or breaking down in front of him. Dakota didn't know which option would be the worse one. "I don't want to hear another word from you."

"Look, Cav, I wasn't trying to destroy the world," Dakota said desperately. He _needed_ Cavendish to understand that. "I just wanted to-"

"I-I know," Cavendish said, and there was that look of grief in his eyes again. Dakota wished that Cavendish wasn't drunk. It would be much easier for him to tell what was on Cavendish's mind if their connection wasn't so messed up. "I know what you _meant_ to do, but you acted without caring about what the consequences _could_ have been. Things could have gone horribly wrong."

"But they didn't," Dakota reminded his partner.

"But they _could have!"_ Cavendish insisted, not loudly, but forcibly. Cavendish lifted the bottle with shaking hands and opened it. Dakota hadn't really thought much about the bottle before, but something about how Cavendish was handling it told Dakota that something was very, _very_ wrong here.

"Wha-what is that?" Dakota gestured to the bottle. Cavendish stared down at it like he was holding a gun.

"This? Oh, it's...uh," Cavendish carelessly dropped the bottle cap, and didn't even seem to notice. "It's just a discontinued soda from the past that I wanted to try."

Dakota flinched and he saw part of his right arm flicker and glitch for a moment. "W-Wyatt Burp orange soda?" Dakota didn't have to see the label fully to know that was what Cavendish held in his hands. Dakota now knew why Cavendish had gone back to 1965, so he could pick up a bottle of the discontinued soda. It didn't make Dakota feel any better though. In fact, it scared him to know that his partner apparently hated him so much that he had gone so far out of his way to pick up something that could delete him right out of existence. "Cav, you...I... _Why?"_

Cavendish frowned and lowered the bottle slightly, though he didn't loosen his grip on it. "I-I don't have a _choice,_ Dakota. How am I supposed to know that something like this won't happen again? That you won't accidentally nearly destroy the world again?" The words hurt, but mostly just because Dakota knew that Cavendish had every right to be concerned. Milo had been worried about the same thing, but the kid hadn't thought that the only way to stop something like this from happening again was to shut Dakota down _permanently_.

"Look, I get it, okay? I messed up," Dakota approached Cavendish, who froze as he neared. "I know that the risk I took was too big, but you can't...you can't destroy me over it. _Please._ "

"I'm sorry, Dakota," Cavendish looked physically pained, and Dakota felt like someone had stabbed a blunt knife into his chest. "I can't let this happen again." Cavendish closed his eyes and, to Dakota's absolute horror, brought the soda to his lips and took a sip.

The world stood still. For a brief, agonizing moment nothing happened and they both began to wonder if it was just a harmless soda when it finally took effect. Cavendish let out a cry of pain and dropped the bottle, clutching at his head instead. After that, Dakota stopped paying attention to what was going on with Cavendish, too concerned with his own pain.

It was _excruciating._ Dakota clenched his eyes shut tightly and screamed as it felt like his head exploded. His limbs felt like there was electricity coursing right through them. The pain continued for nearly a minute before it stopped just as suddenly as it had started. Dakota's limbs went numb so quickly that he felt his legs give out beneath him. He would have fallen straight to the ground, but he felt arms grab him and lower him down gently.

Dakota couldn't feel his arms or legs at all, but his head was still killing him, and it felt like the electricity in his limbs had moved into his chest. Dakota was sure that his body was sparking and glitching all over the place, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He just wanted the pain to end. At the same time though, he didn't want it to stop because he knew that once it did, it would be all over. _He_ would be over.

"I'm sorry, Dakota," Cavendish said again. Dakota opened his eyes slightly and squinted up at Cavendish, who was holding him close in his arms. Dakota just couldn't tell if Cavendish was restraining him, or trying to embrace him. "I'm so sorry, but there is no other way. I don't have a choice." Cavendish's voice cracked. He seemed really broken up about this, which Dakota didn't understand. Why would Cavendish have gone to find Wyatt Burp orange soda, knowing full well that it was the only thing out there that could shut down a Squip for good, if he was going to turn around and get so upset about it anyways?

Dakota wished that Cavendish would just hate him. Dakota was hurt, he was scared of what was going to happen when the pain finally stopped, and the person who had done this to him in the first place was holding him close and seemed to be trying to comfort him. It just made the pain even worse.

"It will be alright," Cavendish said quietly as he took off Dakota's glasses and looked him in the eyes. "It'll all be over soon."

Dakota wanted to close his eyes. He didn't want to see Cavendish's sadness anymore. "C-Cav…" Dakota trailed off. His chest was starting to go numb too. Cavendish was right, it was all going to be over soon.

Dakota didn't want it to be over. He wasn't ready for this. He didn't want to…

Dakota felt a sudden surge of power in his head, so overwhelming that he closed his eyes at the pain and would have cried out if he'd had the energy to. Dakota briefly wondered if something had short circuited, but he knew that it hadn't. This...this was _it._

Dakota heard one last thing before everything went silent and stopped.

" _I'm sorry…"_

* * *

 **A/N:** **For those who are unfamiliar with Be More Chill, drinking Mountain Dew Red is how you shut off the Squips (green turns them on, red turns them off). I went with Wyatt Burp orange soda in this instead because if Milo Murphy's Law is going to give us a discontinued soda that can cause much more damage than one would think it should, then of course I'm going to use it.**

 **I was halfway through writing this chapter when I'd decided to humanize Cavendish at least a bit, make it a little less like he's just ruthlessly killing his partner. Of course, now I just feel like it's even more cruel, in a way, for Cavendish to be comforting Dakota while in the process of destroying him. I swear, I love Cavendish, I really do, but he does see the world in black and white.**


	9. Chapter 9

Something was wrong... _very_ wrong.

Milo frowned and absently watched the television, not really paying attention to what was on. He'd been distracted ever since yesterday, since Dakota had left to go talk to Cavendish. Milo had thought talking things out would be the best thing for Cavendish and Dakota, but now he wasn't so sure. Dakota had been acting really strangely yesterday, and he'd seemed entirely convinced that Cavendish, his partner, his human host, actually _hated_ him.

Milo knew that people didn't always mean what they said, that fear and anger can mess with people's thoughts, screw with them real badly. If Dakota was anybody else, Milo would think that the person was just afraid, that the person they were talking about didn't _actually_ hate them. But Dakota was a computer. A scarily strange one, sure, an emotional one, of course, but a computer nonetheless. If Dakota was going to make a claim like _this,_ whether it was actually true or not, he probably had some convincing evidence to support it.

Milo had been so sure that Dakota should work things out with Cavendish, and to some extent he still believed that. People couldn't work out their differences if they didn't talk things through. But Cavendish had messed with his own head just to mess with Dakota's, and Milo was afraid that he would do even more, just because he was afraid of what Dakota could do.

Milo understood Cavendish's worries, but despite this Milo was more worried about what _Cavendish_ could do to _Dakota._ It was why he had asked Dakota if he'd wanted him there when he talked to Cavendish, just in case. And when Dakota had refused, it was why Milo had insisted that Dakota contact him the next day, to let him know that he was alright.

And now, it was the next day, Milo hadn't heard anything from Dakota, and he was getting worried.

Milo tried to be patient. He trusted Dakota to remember his promise and come to see him, and he was trying really hard to trust Cavendish to not do anything that could hurt Dakota, but it was hard. Milo had done his best to wait, but the day was almost over, and there was still no sign of Cavendish. Milo was done with waiting. He had to do something.

"Hey, Diogee, you wanna help me find Dakota?" Milo got up from where he was sitting and knelt on the ground in front of his dog. Dakota reached into his backpack and brought out the clock that Dakota had handed to him after the whole pistachio incident. He had meant to put it up into his room, as there wasn't a lot of ways that he could use a clock. He could use it for this though. Dakota may not have had it for long, but Diogee may still be able to pick up his scent.

Diogee sniffed the clock and whined slightly. He walked in a small circle and then just sat down on the ground. Milo frowned slightly and pet Diogee a little bit. "I know it's going to be hard, but please, I think Dakota needs help."

Diogee barked and jumped to his feet. He ran in another circle before going towards the front door. Diogee hopped up and down as he waited for Milo to open the door for him. Milo breathed a sigh of relief and opened the door, letting the dog out. Diogee ran out into the street and sniffed the air. Diogee then barked and ran confidently to the left. Milo hoped this meant that Diogee had a scent.

Milo ran after his dog for only about five minutes before Diogee ran into the parking lot of a strip mall or something. Diogee barked and ran up some stairs. Diogee stopped in front of a door and began scratching at it. Milo caught up to Diogee and picked him up, trying to quiet him.

"It's okay," Milo pet his dog. "Good boy, Diogee, good boy." Milo swallowed thickly and looked at the door nervously. He hesitated for only a moment before knocking on the door. There was some rustling from inside, but the door wasn't opened. "Dakota? C-Cavendish? A-are you guys in there?"

"...Murphy?" Milo couldn't help but tighten his grip on Diogee, and then immediately felt horrible about it. Things may have been weird between Dakota and Cavendish, but Milo _knew_ the older man. He shouldn't be scared of him. They were friends. By the time Cavendish opened the door, Milo had been able to get himself to relax slightly. He calmed down even more when he actually saw Cavendish standing there. He really didn't _look_ mean, or inhuman, or like anybody who would hurt his partner. He just looked tired, and maybe a little bit sad, but not like anybody that Milo should be afraid of.

"Hey, Cavendish," Milo smiled slightly. He tried to look over Cavendish's shoulder to see if Dakota was there.

"Murphy," Cavendish straightened up and seemed to try to control his expression, though he still looked incredibly upset. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see Dakota," Milo said cheerfully, though his grin fell when he saw the miniscule flinch that Cavendish gave. "I talked to him yesterday, and he said he'd talk to me today, but he hasn't come by,"

A guilty expression slipped onto Cavendish's face, and an uneasy feeling settled into his stomach. "Ah, well...uh," Cavendish cleared his throat. "About D-Dakota, I believe there are some things you should know about Dakota."

Milo frowned. "You mean about how he's a Squip, because Dakota already told me about that."

"He-he _what?!"_ Cavendish paled. He leaned out the door and looked around outside anxiously. After a few tense moments Cavendish seemed to be content that nobody else was out there. He went back inside and pulled Milo in behind him. Once they were safely inside, Cavendish turned to Milo with an almost panicked look in his eyes. "Why would Dakota tell you that he was a Squip? How would that even come up?"

"He was just trying to apologize for involving me in the whole pistachio incident." Milo said. "But he thought that to do that, he would have to explain everything else to me."

Cavendish's eyes widened. "He...he willingly involved a _child?"_

"I-I thought you already knew about that," Dakota frowned slightly. His stomach was twisting up anxiously again. "Didn't he explain everything to you?" That was the whole reason why Dakota had went to find Cavendish, to talk things through.

"I...well," Cavendish cleared his throat and put his hands behind his back. "We didn't exactly get the chance to discuss things further."

"But, why not?" Milo asked. Cavendish flinched and seemed to be trying to look anywhere but right at him. Milo looked around the small room as well, feeling his breath catching in his throat when he didn't see any sign of Dakota. "Where's Dakota?"

Cavendish opened his mouth, but before he could say anything there was another knock on the door. Milo's first thought was that it was Dakota, but his hopes were quickly dashed when he heard their voice. "Cavendish, open the door, we need to talk," The voice was vaguely familiar, but Milo couldn't place it. They seemed to know Cavendish though, and based on Cavendish's horrified expression, he knew them too.

"Y-yes, of course," Cavendish opened the door for a strangely well-dressed man and woman who had serious expressions. "Brick, Savannah, what a pleasant surprise," Though his tone suggested that it wasn't very pleasant at all.

"Cavendish," Brick said coldly as he forced his way in. Brick seemed to be there with a purpose, but whatever had been on his mind seemed to disappear when he saw Milo. "And...a child?"

Brick's companion, Savannah, came in behind him, and she actually froze when she laid eyes on Milo. For a brief moment, it looked like Savannah's dark eyes flashed yellow or orange, but it was gone so quickly that Milo thought he must have just imagined it. He definitely didn't imagine the strange look of recognition in her eyes though. "Milo?"

Cavendish and Brick both looked at Savannah in shock. "You know this boy?" Brick asked. Cavendish didn't say a word, but he stepped protectively in front of Milo, pushing him behind him. Savannah blinked, and her expression became completely unreadable, but Milo knew what he had seen.

"Milo Murphy," Savannah said, like his name was just a bit of data. "A member of the Murphy family, jynxed with 'Murphy's Law'. Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong." Milo instinctively drew further behind Cavendish. It was a little unnerving, to hear someone talk about Murphy's law in such an unfeeling, purely factual way.

Cavendish glared at Savannah, who stared coldly right back at him. "Leave the boy alone, you're here to talk to me. Now, what do you want?"

Brick straightened his suit jacket. "We were told that you traveled back in time without proper authorization." Brick said this smugly, like he had caught Cavendish with his hand stuck in the cookie jar. Milo didn't like that smug expression, but he couldn't help but wince sympathetically when Brick yelped in pain. Cavendish flinched too, even worse than Milo did.

"Was that really necessary?" Cavendish looked at Savannah, though Milo didn't entirely understand why. It wasn't like it was _her_ fault that Brick had gotten hurt...was it?

Savannah glanced at Cavendish, though she immediately looked away from him. "Brick knows better than to let his petty emotions show when he's working. The _real_ reason we're here is because our records show that your assigned Squip, Dakota, has gone offline. Is this true?"

Milo froze. "Offline? He-he's gone?" Milo stepped away from Cavendish. That wasn't right. It wasn't _fair._ "What did you do?"

Cavendish turned his attention away from Brick and Savannah as he looked back at Milo, a pained look in his eyes. "I didn't mean for you to find out this way, but I had no choice. You know what Dakota did. I had no guarantee that he wouldn't do it again, and the next time something could have gone incredibly wrong. I couldn't take the chance."

"But, he wouldn't…" Milo shook his head. Diogee whined and buried his head into Milo's chest, trying to comfort his owner.

"We didn't know that for sure," Cavendish said regretfully before looking back towards Brick and Savannah. "I had reason to believe that because of the state of his malfunctions, Dakota was a danger to himself and those around him." This sounded wrong. All of this was wrong.

Savannah still wasn't looking directly at Cavendish, and she seemed to be either angry or upset about something. Brick on the other hand actually seemed to calm down slightly at Cavendish's words. "Ah, yes, Savannah told me about how defective your Squip was. I guess it was just a matter of time before it did something like this."

Savannah scowled slightly and suddenly Brick seemed to get hurt by some unseen force all over again. Last time, it had seemed like a short and simple pain, gone just as quickly as it had shown up. This time though, it seemed to last for a much longer amount of time. Savannah's eyes seemed to glow purple and spark slightly, and at that moment Milo realized that she was a Squip, like Dakota was.

"Ow, ow _ow,"_ Brick's hands were shaking when he reached over to Savannah and gave her a push, surprising her. "Knock it off!"

Savannah's purple eyes sparked orange suddenly, and Milo was positive that he hadn't imagined it this time, before going back to their normal color. She gave Brick a critical look. "Do not refer to Dakota as an 'it'. If he took the form of a male, than he's a 'he'."

Brick crossed his arms and glared at her. " _It's_ a supercomputer. It doesn't have a gender, so it shouldn't matter if I use pronouns for it."

Savannah didn't back down. "The matter of gender is very prevalent in this time period. Squips may be supercomputers, but they _look_ human. You'll call attention to yourself if you refer to supercomputers using inappropriate pronouns."

"Alright, alright," Brick said, though he still sounded confused, like he didn't understand why Savannah was making such a big deal out of this. "I won't do it again,"

Cavendish cleared his throat, bringing Brick and Savannah's attention back to him. "I'll be sure to report to Mr. Block about what happened. I just thought that the situation was too urgent to take the time to go through the proper paperwork to deprogram my Squip." Milo fidgeted slightly. He didn't like the way that Cavendish was talking about this. Dakota wasn't just a supercomputer that could be shut down when it wasn't functioning right, he was _Dakota."_

Savannah finally met Cavendish's eyes. "See that you do. If you want, you may be assigned a new Squip, though if you feel you're not ready for a new one, it's not necessary." Milo frowned slightly. Savannah's tone this whole time had been cold and calculated, and it still was, but there was a really weird look in her eyes. If Milo had to guess, the look meant that Savannah _really_ didn't want Cavendish to get a new Squip, and Milo didn't entirely understand why. He knew why _he_ didn't want Cavendish to get a new Squip, but why should Savannah care?

"Well, if that's everything..." Cavendish frowned and looked pointedly at the door. He seemed to want Brick and Savannah to leave.

"Yes, of course," Brick said. After a quick glare from Savannah, Brick offered out his hand for Cavendish, who took it cautiously. "Try not to do things without permission anymore." Brick opened the door and went out. Savannah looked at Milo before she turned and followed her partner out.

Cavendish waited a few minutes after they were gone before turning his attention back to Milo. "Milo, I know you were fond of Dakota, but you must understand-"

"Why should I?" Milo interrupted Cavendish, which wasn't like him, but he felt horrible. He was frustrated, and scared, and he just really wasn't in the mood to listen to Cavendish justify his reasons for basically _murdering_ Dakota. "You didn't even _try_ to understand what Dakota was thinking."

Cavendish's expression fell, and Milo almost felt bad about it, but he reminded himself of what Cavendish had done, and that guilt was overpowered by his other emotions. "No, I suppose I didn't," Cavendish sighed and stepped back from Milo, giving him room. "I truly am sorry that you were involved in this whole mess."

Milo frowned and pet Diogee slightly. "It's fine," It wasn't though. Nothing about any of this was fine, but it wasn't in Milo's nature to go out of his way to make someone feel bad. "It's, uh, getting a little late. I think I need to get home,"

"Yes, of course," Cavendish said. "Have a safe trip home, Milo," It was one of the only times that Cavendish called Milo by his first name. Milo kinda wanted to be mad at Cavendish, but the way that he called him by his first name made it a lot harder to do. It showed that Cavendish wasn't unfeeling and completely heartless, he was just a man who had made a mistake while trying to do what he thought was best.

Milo gave Cavendish a small smile. "I'll see you later, Cavendish." And Milo meant his words. He planned on seeing Cavendish again in the future, even if he was a little upset with him right now. Milo went out the door and made his way down the stairs. He saw a familiar looking limo in the parking lot, and Brick was leaning against it, looking impatient. Milo suddenly remembered why Brick had seemed vaguely familiar to him at first. He had seen Brick and Savannah for a moment just before he had travelled to the future with Cavendish and Dakota. Milo guessed that Brick and Savannah were time travelers too, and this limo was _their_ vehicle.

Milo didn't see Savannah anywhere though. He didn't worry a lot about that, but Diogee barked and squirmed in Milo's arms until he let his grip loosen enough to let him jump to the ground. Diogee rushed down the stairs and ran around the corner of the building.

"Diogee, wait!" Milo ran after his dog, but froze in his tracks when he found Diogee sniffing Savannah, who was kneeling in front of the dog, petting him. Diogee seemed to not know how he felt about Savannah, which was weird, because Diogee either really liked somebody, or he didn't like them at all. Milo couldn't think of anybody else that Diogee was on the fence about.

"Milo," Savannah stood up. "I really need to talk to you."

Milo was taken aback. Savannah sounded a lot different now than she had while talking to Cavendish. There was a lot of emotion, and some desperation in her tone now. "Okay...what's going on?"

"Look, don't freak out, okay? Because I promise, I can explain _everything."_ Savannah held up her hands slightly defensively, and something about this whole thing felt incredibly _off._ He didn't know Savannah all that well, but she struck him as really cold and professional. _This_ just sounded really casual and informal, like Savannah was a friend instead of a relative stranger.

"Explain what?" Milo said cautiously. The only reason he wasn't running in the opposite direction was because Diogee seemed to have decided that he liked Savannah and was currently happily running around her.

Savannah smirked slightly, an expression that didn't seem completely natural on her face. Her eyes sparked orange again, except this time the spark didn't go away in an instant. The orange color lingered. Her eyes, the expression on her face, the way that she was talking to him, it all felt incredibly, impossibly familiar to Milo.

Savannah waited patiently as Milo tried to piece things together. It actually took him a very short time to realize what was going on, but it took a little longer for him to actually accept that it was real, that he wasn't just grasping at straws because he was upset and in denial.

"...Dakota?" Milo looked at Savannah...Dakota...the Squip with wide eyes. Her, his, _their_ eyes softened ever so slightly.

"Hey, kid,"

* * *

 **A/N: I feel so mean, leaving you guys off on a cliffhanger last chapter, only to have one this chapter too. It's just so fun though, not to mention quite dramatic.**


	10. Chapter 10

Dakota understood how he had ended up okay, even though Cavendish had definitely done his best to completely delete him out of existence. He had almost succeeded, but ironically what had saved Dakota was the very thing that had motivated Cavendish to take things as far as he had. Dakota's defective systems.

Dakota had previously formed a connection with Savannah. He had done it in the first place because she had wanted to keep an eye on him, make sure that he didn't do anything he wasn't supposed to do, which, really, hadn't worked out all that well for her. At first Dakota had thought that them having a connection would basically be like they were on the same network, but still two separate systems. That was what normally happened between Squips, except Dakota wasn't a normal Squip.

Dakota had overtaken Savannah's systems when she had tried to make the initial connection. He'd never broken the connection that they'd had with each other, which Dakota was so glad for. Because apparently instead of just hacking in and out of Savannah's systems, he had completely taken it over. He really _had_ overridden Savannah's systems, and replaced some of Savannah's coding with his own. Neither of them had known of it at all until after Dakota was supposed to be deleted. The physical Squip in Cavendish's head had been deprogrammed, so all of Dakota's awareness shifted to the bit of his personal programming that he had left with Savannah.

She had been surprised to suddenly have Dakota in her conscience. Savannah probably would have tried to kick him out, but even though it was her programming in the first place, Dakota had more control than she did. It was only because of this that Savannah hadn't immediately reported him to block. Trying to take control of another Squip was completely against the rules. Whether Cavendish had stepped out of line when trying to delete him or not, Mr. Block would have personally seen to it that Dakota was wiped out for good for hacking into his superior's systems.

Savannah hadn't wanted Dakota to be there with her, and he had no big desire to be one with her either. Dakota hadn't really meant to take control of her, but he wasn't about to let go of that control, because he knew that if he did it would mean the end of him. He didn't want to go. He may be a computer, but he was scared of just not existing. This was something that Savannah didn't, and couldn't, understand.

Because Dakota hadn't planned this whole thing, he had no game plan of what to do. At first, he hadn't really meant to do anything at all, other than leave Savannah to do her normal thing. He made sure that she didn't do anything that could hurt him, but other than that she was her own Squip. Dakota had even let her go with Brick to talk to Cavendish.

Dakota hadn't wanted anything to do with this conversation. He wasn't ready to face Cavendish again, and he didn't think he would ever be. Dakota had wanted to just tune out the entire interaction and hand the reins over to Savannah. That little plan had gone out the window when he'd seen Milo there. The kid wasn't supposed to be there. He wasn't supposed to learn what had happened to Dakota.

And yet Dakota had never been happier to see anybody in his life.

Milo had been ecstatic to learn that Dakota was okay. Of course, he wanted to know what happened to him, but unfortunately Dakota couldn't explain it all to him at that moment. Savannah had a job to do, and Brick would get suspicious if she just walked away from him. Dakota had to wait until their work was done for the day, and then he could talk things through with Milo.

The kid was taking all of this incredibly well. Milo had been so upset after hearing about what Cavendish had done to Dakota, and if anybody deserved to know what was going on, it was Milo. Still, when he was asked to wait for a few hours, Milo had immediately agree. Even though Dakota had broken his last promise to check back in with Milo, the kid was trusting him to come see him, and Dakota wasn't going to let him down. Not this time.

It had taken longer than Dakota would have wanted for Savannah to be convinced that they'd done enough work to not draw any suspicion if they left for a few hours. As soon as Savannah had given the 'go ahead', Dakota had taken complete control and gone to find Milo. It was already night by this time, not unreasonably late, but not all that early either. Dakota in Savannah's body made his way to Milo's house, where the boy had told him he would be.

Dakota found Milo sitting on the grass in his backyard. The boy was picking at the grass, his pet dog curled up on his lap. Diogee heard Dakota before Milo saw him. The dog perked up and barked when he heard Dakota. Diogee ran over to him and started scratching at Savannah's dress, getting dirt and small scratches all over it, not that Dakota cared about that.

"You came!" Milo got to his feet, a relieved look of glee in his eyes. Dakota felt bad about keeping him waiting. He'd put the kid through enough already.

"'Course I came, Milo," Dakota said.

"So, uh, what happened to you?" Milo asked. Dakota didn't know just how specific Milo was talking here, but he wasn't about to tell him exactly what had happened between him and Cavendish. Dakota himself didn't want to think about that, he wasn't about to subject Milo to it.

So instead, Dakota explained how he had found himself in Savannah's form. Milo took it as well as he'd taken all of this.

"Is it hurting her?" Milo asked somewhat cautiously, like he was afraid to hear the answer. "For you to take control?"

"Uh, well, it's not fun for her," Dakota said honestly. "She doesn't like that I'm here, but no, it doesn't hurt her."

"Are you sure?" Milo asked dubiously.

Dakota could feel what was going through Savannah's mind. There was no pain, not physical or emotional, just irritation. "Yeah, I'm sure. I promise. She just kinda wants me gone." Milo did what Dakota hadn't expected, he relaxed and actually seemed to believe him.

"Oh, well, that's good," Milo smiled slightly. "So, do you have an idea of how to get out of Savannah's body?"

"Oh, no," Dakota rubbed the back of his neck...well, _Savannah's_ neck. He felt her become suddenly more aware. It felt like Savannah was going through her database. It could take Dakota hours to go through all his data, but almost immediately Savannah seemed to find what she was looking for. "Actually, excited about it. "think there might be a way," Dakota wasn't really sure which of them was saying it, him or Savannah.

Milo hadn't even heard the idea yet, but he looked excited about it anyways. "What is it?"

' _Yeah, what is it?'_ Dakota thought to Savannah. He suddenly saw what Savannah had found in her searching. It was a study on Squips, showing that if a Squip needed more power, it could outsource by hacking an unactivated Squip's programming, and then actually be the Squip partner of two or more people at a time.

' _Cavendish has cut you off,'_ Savannah thought bluntly. ' _But that shouldn't stop you from starting fresh with someone new,'_

' _No, I guess not,'_ Dakota considered Savannah's suggestion. ' _But who would that someone be?'_ Even as Dakota said it, he had someone come to his mind. After what happened with Cavendish, there was just a single individual that Dakota would feel comfortable with.

' _There are plenty of new time travelers that haven't been assigned their Squips yet,'_ Savannah said. ' _We can…'_

"No," Dakota said out loud, using his power over Savannah to silence her. Milo stared at him in confusion, but Dakota didn't bother explaining himself. He just continued on talking to Milo as though he and Savannah had never cut in with their own personal conversation. "Savannah says that I can become someone else's Squip partner, but really, I don't feel like joining another time traveler. Most of them are a bunch of sticks in the mud who won't stand for any kind of breaking the rules. Believe it or not, Cavendish was one of the more laid back of the bunch, and he still...well…"

"I get it," Milo said, an understanding look in his eyes. "...Can you partner with someone who isn't a time traveler?"

"It's possible," Dakota said. "Not technically allowed, but I'm pretty flexible about the rules."

Milo grinned in amusement. "Yeah, I guess you are,"

""Listen, Milo, I have a, well, an idea," Dakota said, and he could feel himself becoming nervous, and he didn't know where those feelings were coming from. Maybe he was nervous about whether this plan would work at all. Maybe it was mild anxiety about what programming himself into a new Squip could do to him, or what it could do to Milo. Maybe he was scared that the kid would reject him, or even that he would gladly accept it. He was just a bit nervous about this whole thing.

Milo waited for Dakota to continue, but he didn't. "What's the idea?" Milo pushed.

Dakota grimaced and just let it all out at once. "I-I want _you_ to be my new partner, or host, or whatever you want to call it."

"M-me?" Milo looked taken aback. He looked completely shocked, but after a moment that shock turned into a look that Dakota couldn't interpret. "You trust me to do that?"

"Right now, kid, you're the _only_ one I trust," Dakota said honestly. "You know what I am, you know what I've _done,_ and you still want me around."

"Of course I want you around," Milo said. "If you want me to have your Squip, I'd be happy to do that for you,"

"Are you sure?" Dakota raised an eyebrow. "I mean, if you change your mind later you know you can always shut it off, but-"

"No," Milo said sternly. "I'm never going to do that. You're my friend. "I don't want to hurt you,"

Dakota knew that Milo wouldn't. It wasn't in the kid's nature. He truly was 'good', sweet, put others before himself. If Milo said he would take Dakota's Squip, then he would keep it.

"Alright, kid," Dakota gave him a small smile in appreciation. "I have to go get the Squip, and something to activate it. I'll be back in half an hour, okay?"

"Yeah, okay," Milo said, though he looked a little nervous, and Dakota couldn't blame him for that. It could be a terrifying thing, to have somebody promise to meet you, only to have them disappear without a word. Dakota wasn't going to let that happen again though. Or, at least, he would do his best to keep it from happening, for Milo's sake...and for his own.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," Dakota pet Diogee's head before turning to leave. Milo made a noise like he wanted to say something else, but he didn't. The kid just watched silently as Dakota left his backyard, both of them hoping desperately that he really would come back.

Once Dakota was halfway down the street, away from Milo's house, he let his tight slip on Savannah loosen. She immediately got at him. ' _What are you doing?! You can't give a Squip to a child.'_

"It's not going to hurt him," Dakota said, and he was actually fairly certain of that. "You know the Squip was tested on a bunch of kids, and it worked for them just as well as for anybody else," Granted, the prototype Squips had caused quite a lot of trouble, but that was more because of what they'd been programmed to do. 'Make your host happy', and when you're a teenager, sometimes what you think will make you happy could very well ruin your life, and Squips in general weren't exactly the best moral compasses.

' _That isn't the point,'_ Savannah said coldly. ' _Squips are the property of the Bureau of Time Travel, and-'_

"I'm not the property of anyone," Dakota growled. "I'm not asking for your permission. I'm doing this whether you want me to do it or not."

Savannah was silent after this. Dakota didn't know if this was because she knew there was no point to arguing with him, or if he was subconsciously keeping her quiet. He didn't think deeply about it. He had work to do.

Unlike what Dakota and Cavendish had used to do, Savannah and Brick didn't have a permanent place to stay in this time period. They usually travelled back to their own time at the end of the day. If that wasn't possible, they would spend the night at a hotel. Brick was currently fast asleep at one of those hotels, and would stay that way until morning. Dakota was glad that he didn't have to deal with the man, or pretend that he was just Savannah. Still, he had to do something that he wasn't looking forward to.

He had to travel to the future, because that was where the Squips were.

Dakota made his way to Brick and Savannah's time travel vehicle. He didn't have the keys, but he didn't need them. He _was_ the key. All Dakota had to do was put his hand on the ignition, let some sparks fly, and the vehicle was on for him. Dakota pushed a few buttons and he was off for the year 2175.

As Dakota travelled through the timestream he began to think of a way to sneak into the B.o.T.T.'s headquarters. They had a lot of surveillance there. Dakota would have to be sneaky. Maybe he could hack into their systems and mess with their camera systems. Any Squip in the area would have to be dealt with, because they'd surely be able to fix anything that he messed with. Dakota would deprogram any Squip he came across to get what he needed.

At least, it was fun to think of things that way, but Dakota knew that none of this was necessary. Savannah was the Squip of a time traveler first class. Nobody would question her coming in and going down to the labs. They'd all just assume that she was there because she'd been ordered to be, and in a way, she was, just not by the B.o.T.T.

Dakota got to the future and immediately made his way to headquarters. Just like he'd thought, nobody gave him a second glance. He just walked right in there, undetected, because for all anybody else knew, he wasn't the defective Squip Dakota, he was Savannah, the best of the best.

Dakota was able to walk right down to the labs, where they kept their Squip pills. Nobody was down there, because people only had to be around the non-functioning Squips when new agents were coming in, and Dakota still had nearly two weeks until that happened. He was basically in the clear.

Dakota hacked into the sorry excuse for security they had for the room they kept the Squips in and went in. The Squip pills that weren't currently in the process of being developed were kept in a showbox. Dakota didn't know why things were done in such a rudimentary way, but it definitely made it easier to grab a Squip unnoticed, so he wasn't going to complain.

Dakota grabbed one of the pills and put the shoebox back exactly where he found it. Before leaving, Dakota went to the few computer systems in the room, hacked into them, and made just a tiny little adjustment. The B.o.T.T. created so many Squips that no single person bothered to keep track of everything. That's what computers were for, after all. But computers could be swayed in a way that humans never could be.

Now, as far as the B.o.T.T. was concerned, the pill that Dakota held in his hands had never even existed at all. He was in the clear. He needed just one more thing, and Dakota could get it from any vending machine or convenience store back in Milo's time.

Dakota left the labs, briefly pausing to erase any trace that he'd been in the labs at all. He knew that people didn't really check the time logs for the labs, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Dakota immediately made his way back out of the B.o.T.T. and back to the time vehicle. Dakota drove back through the timestream to Milo's timeline.

Dakota deleted the evidence of his latest time travel trip, and he was in the clear. Dakota left the time vehicle and made his way to the nearest convenience store. He bought just one thing, a bottle of soda, and he was ready to return to Milo.

From Dakota's point of view, it had been a little more than half an hour since he had left Milo's place, but thanks to the wonders of time travel, it hadn't even been half that long. Dakota knew he would probably be back sooner rather than later, but he had preferred to overestimate how long it would take and be early than get stalled by something and worry Milo because he was late.

Dakota doubted that Milo was still in the backyard, waiting for him. He probably would have gone back inside to wait, which probably made things easier. Dakota just went to the front door and knocked. Fortunately, Milo was the one who opened the door, and he looked thrilled to see Dakota there.

"You're back!" Milo exclaimed. "Did you get what you needed?"

"I did," Dakota held up the pill. " _This_ is the Squip," Dakota handed the soda to Milo. "And _that_ activates it."

"A soda?" Milo looked confused.

"Trust me, this stuff works," Dakota looked at the Squip in his hands and downloaded his programming into it. He handed it to Milo. "the Squip activating isn't really going to be a pleasant feeling, but don't worry, I've taken that into consideration."

"What do you mean?" Milo asked.

"Squips are computers. Your brain is going to be getting a lot of information attacking it at once. You'll basically be overloaded." Dakota said. "For some people, the pain is barely a headache," That was how it had been for Cavendish. "For others though, it's excruciating." Normally there was no telling just what someone's experience would be, but Dakota thought it was a pretty safe bet that Murphy's Law would not make things easy for Milo. The pain wouldn't last forever, but Dakota didn't want Milo to have to go through that.

"After you take the Squip, I'm going to influence your mind to get you to go to sleep." Dakota explained. "I used to do this to Cavendish all the time. It won't hurt you, you won't even feel it happen at all, you'll just fall asleep. If you're asleep, you won't feel any potential pain the Squip may cause you. And by the time you wake up, it'll be completely activated, and I should be back, just like you remember me, okay?"

Milo swallowed, looking slightly nervous, but he nodded anyways. "Okay," Milo put the pill in his mouth and swallowed it down with the soda. Nothing happened right away, because it took time for the Squip to fully make its way into the bloodstream, and then still more time for it to process all of the information it needed from the host's mind.

"Go to bed," Dakota said. Though it took time for the Squip to fully activate, Dakota could tell that he already had at least some influence over the child. Not a lot, but it was enough to get Milo to sleep. "I'll see you later, I promise,"

"See you later," Milo gave him an uneasy smile before going back inside and closing the door. Dakota didn't go in after him, though neither of them really wanted to be away from each other at that moment. If Dakota looked like himself, it would probably be fine, because both Milo and his older sister could vouch for him, but he looked like Savannah, so that wouldn't really work. That was fine though. There was no need to keep Milo company when he was going to be asleep.

Besides, Savannah hadn't seemed that happy with Dakota's plan to become Milo's Squip, and he had to make sure that she didn't cause trouble for him in the future. It was incredibly easy to rewrite a Squip's memory code. And if Dakota did this right, Savannah wouldn't even realize that she had memories missing at all.

After making sure that Savannah didn't have a clue what he had done, though he'd made sure that she retained her knowledge about Cavendish deprogramming Dakota, because it would be suspicious if she didn't know that, Dakota sent her back to Brick. Of course, because he didn't want her to know just how much control he could have over her, he had to basically relinquish any control he had as he retreated to the back of her mind.

It was a little scary to be so dissociated and cut off from everything around him. He couldn't see, hear, or feel anything. Dakota couldn't even explore his databases to pass the time, because he couldn't access his own, and if he went through Savannah's she would know it. He just had to wait it out.

It was really had to tell the passage of time when you're just _existing._ Eventually though, Dakota felt something tickle at the back of his mind. Slowly he felt a connection form between him and Milo's Squip. It started as just a little at first, not enough to do anything with, but it grew stronger until it was enough for Dakota to cling onto. He had his exit.

It was effortless, really, to get to Milo. He was already in the kid's mind, it was just a matter of sending his main systems and consciousness to Milo's Squip. It was also incredibly easy for Dakota to manifest himself into a physical form. After all, he knew that Milo just wanted him as he'd known him. That was simple.

Dakota opened his eyes and found himself in what looked like Milo's bedroom. The kid was sleeping, like he should be. Dakota was relieved that Milo looked okay. He'd been really worried. With his concerns put to rest, Dakota turned his attention to himself. He looked just like he remembered being. His tracksuit was the same. He had the same gold chain necklace on. He even had his sunglasses in his pocket. Though thinking of his sunglasses, Dakota remembered something else about his physical appearance that he wasn't entirely sure would be the same or not.

Dakota looked around Milo's bedroom, looking for a mirror or something that would make a reflection. It didn't take him too long to find something. It was a little too dark in the room for a normal person to be able to make out the color of their eyes, but most people's eyes didn't spark. One of Dakota's eyes was hard to make out the color of, because the eye itself was probably too dark, but the other one, it was sparking and glowing a bright orange, just like it usually did...just like it should be.

Dakota had no idea whether he was relieved or disappointed by this. On one hand, this meant that he was still himself. He hadn't changed. On the other hand, it meant that there hadn't just been something wrong with the programming in Cavendish's Squip pill, but that there was just something wrong with Dakota.

There was the sound of rustling behind him. Dakota turned to see that Milo was still asleep, but he was tossing and turning a little bit. He was still sleeping, but it was an uneasy sleep. Dakota's guess had been right, it seemed like for Milo the activation of the Squip was a painful process. He was glad that he had foreseen this and made sure that Milo was asleep. Dakota used their connection to persuade Milo's mind to go into a deeper sleep, just in case.

Once Dakota was confident that Milo wasn't going to wake up on him, Dakota settled himself into the chair at Milo's desk. All he could do now was wait, but this time he didn't mind it so much. In fact, seeing Milo sleep Dakota decided to follow his example. It had been a really long day, and Dakota _had_ used a lot of power to keep his control over Savannah, not to mention all of the hacking he'd done that day. He needed a break, and he actually felt safe enough to allow himself to rest.

So Dakota closed his eyes, shut out everything around him, and went into sleep mode for the night.


	11. Chapter 11

Dakota's systems came back online with a start as a rock came crashing through the window. Dakota gave a cry of alarm and leapt back instinctively, temporarily forgetting that he couldn't be physically injured.

"Well, at least it didn't hit me this time," Milo, who had been startled awake just like Dakota had been, sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Milo began to get out of bed, but froze when he saw Dakota there in his room.

"You...you're here!" Milo grinned excitedly and rushed down the ladder. Milo then rushed towards Dakota and hugged him without warning. Dakota was surprised, but he didn't push the kid away. "You're okay!"

"I told you I would be," Dakota smiled.

"Yeah, I know," Milo pulled back and rubbed a hand through his hair. "I just…" Milo's grin slipped. "...I was so worried that you were gone forever, and I…" Milo trailed off and looked at the ground. He seemed to be a little sheepish, but mostly still upset. "I thought it was my fault."

"What?" Dakota looked at the boy in alarm. "How would it be your fault? You didn't do anything. You weren't even there."

"Well, not _my_ fault, but, you know, Murphy's Law," Milo shrugged. "You didn't want to talk to Cavendish, but I convinced you to go. I thought 'what's the worst that could happen?' I didn't think that Cavendish would…"

"Neither did I," Dakota said quietly. He hadn't wanted to even consider it a possibility. "But Murphy's Law didn't _make_ Cavendish do anything. Bad things happen, whether a Murphy's around or not. Especially when there are people involved who are scared and acting brashly."

"If you say so," Milo said, though he didn't sound entirely convinced. Dakota was about to continue trying to convince Milo that none of this was his fault when the door was opened.

"Milo, I heard talking in here," A woman who Dakota had never seen before, but he still instantly recognized her as Milo's mom, poked her head in the room. She looked at Dakota in surprise. "Who's your friend?" She wasn't immediately kicking Dakota out, but she was still curious and slightly concerned, which was understandable. Dakota was a complete stranger to Brigette, and he was hanging out in her teenage son's room first thing in the morning. As if that wasn't bad enough, Milo's window was broken, and the boy was still in his pajamas. It wasn't that much of a stretch for Dakota to be concerned that she might think he was a threat.

Fortunately, Milo immediately came to his defense. "This is Dakota. Me and Sara are friends with him," Mentioning the older sister. Not a bad strategy. "He showed up last night because his partner tried to hurt him really badly, and he didn't know where else to go," Huh, not only was it the truth, but Milo was also playing the sympathy card. He was pretty good at this.

Brigette's expression softened. She still looked concerned, though Dakota got the sense that it was now directed more towards him than her child. "Are you hurt? Is there anyone we can call for you?"

"Physically, I'm fine," Dakota said. He couldn't say he wasn't hurt, because that would be a lie, and they'd all know it. "But I, uh, I really don't have anyone else right now,"

"Well, you're welcome to stay here for as long as you want," Brigette said with a kind smile, not even the smallest hint of hesitation in her eyes. "Now, why don't you boys come down for breakfast?"

"Alright," Milo said excitedly as he followed his mom out of the room. Dakota followed behind them. They went downstairs and Dakota was greeted by a hyper and barking Diogee. Dakota smiled at the dog. No matter what form he was in, the dog recognized him, and was always quick to make him feel welcome.

"Hey, Diogee," Dakota bent down and picked up the dog, who excitedly began to lick him. Brigette looked amused.

"Sorry about Diogee," Brigette said. "When he likes you, he's not afraid to show it."

"He's a good dog," Dakota said. The dog began squirming in his arms, so Dakota put him down again and watched as Diogee ran into the kitchen, probably to find some breakfast for himself. Dakota followed him to see Sara and Milo's dad already in the kitchen, eating pancakes.

"Martin, Sara, we have a guest," Brigette said as she came up behind Dakota. "He may be staying with us for a bit,"

Sara looked at Dakota in confusion. "Did you have troubles with your job?" Milo must have told her that Cavendish and Dakota were time travelers, and that the whole pistachio thing had only happened because of a 'small' disregard for the rules.

"Nah," Dakota shrugged. "Partner troubles," Sara looked like she was dying to ask more, but one stern look from her brother silenced her. She was at least trying to give him some privacy, which was nice of her.

Brigette took a plate of pancakes and handed it to Milo. She looked at Dakota. "Did you want some?"

"Uh, no thanks," Dakota went through his systems really quickly, trying to think of what he could say. He was a supercomputer, he didn't eat food. But Milo's family didn't know what he was, and they would get concerned and probably suspicious if he continually refused to eat. Unless, of course, he had a good reason. "I don't really like eating around other people. My partner kinda tried to poison me,"

Milo and Sara's eyes widened. Their parents looked concerned, but the teenagers had met Cavendish, they couldn't imagine him doing anything like that. Dakota hadn't been lying, he'd just stretched the truth a bit. If Brigette and Martin thought that Dakota was worried about being poisoned again, they might not bother him if he didn't join them for their meals.

Brigette and Martin exchanged concerned glances before Brigette turned back towards Dakota, her eyes full of worry. "Are you _sure_ you don't want us to call someone?"

"Like the police," Martin suggested.

"No!" Dakota said too quickly, desperately. He felt a little embarrassed, though he wasn't sure if it was because of his reaction, or what he was about to say. "I don't want him to get into trouble. Besides, he's got friends in high places. Getting the police involved will just be more trouble," That much was true. The B.o.T.T. had a lot of resources dedicated to keeping their agents, no matter how low ranked and insignificant they were, out of trouble with the law. They'd make sure Cavendish didn't get in trouble. Dakota, on the other hand, would probably be discovered, and he'd be in _huge_ trouble.

Brigette and Martin didn't look entirely convinced, but fortunately they didn't try to convince him anymore. "Well, if you need anything, just say the word," Martin said, and he seemed to mean it. Dakota nodded. He didn't know if he'd take them up on their offer, but it was nice that it was out there.

There was a knock on the door. Milo jumped up to get it, even though he was still in his pajamas. Not wanting to be far from his new host, Dakota followed Milo to see that it was the boy's friends, Melissa and Zack.

"You guys are here early," Milo commented. Melissa crossed her arms and quirked her eyebrows playfully.

"You were acting weird yesterday," Melissa said. "We were worried something had happened."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Milo said, sounding sincerely apologetic, even though everybody had their off days. "Honestly, I was worried something had happened too," Dakota felt a twinge of guilt. Milo was a good kid, and Dakota kept on dragging him into trouble that he didn't deserve. The kid deserved better than him.

Zack looked past Milo to Dakota. "What are _you_ doing here?" He didn't sound judgemental, just confused. "Last I saw you, you were kinda drunk,"

Dakota frowned. His memory was a little shaky of that incident, but he _did_ remember unexpectedly speaking Japanese to the kids, because Cavendish had gotten drunk and messed with his systems. "I wasn't drunk, I was just...having a bad day."

"Dakota's going to be living here now," Milo explained cheerfully. "He needed a break from Cavendish,"

Dakota gave Milo a strange look. "Milo, 'a break' implies that I'm going to be going back to Cavendish, and the chances of that happening are 0.086%. He hates me. He tried to delete me. He doesn't even know that I'm still around. I don't think he'd react very well if he found out that I wasn't gone. Especially if he knew that I'm only here because of you."

Milo didn't look as worried as Dakota was. "He really seemed upset about what he did. I think if we just give both of you time to calm down, he'll be more willing to listen."

"Yeah, but what if he's not?" Dakota asked. "What if he just tries to do it all over again."

Milo frowned. "I told you, I'm not going to let that happen,"

"Uh, what's going on here?" Zack looked from Milo to Dakota.

"Are you in trouble?" Melissa asked, though Dakota didn't know exactly who she was talking to, him or Milo.

Milo turned back to his friends, looking a little sheepish about momentarily forgetting them. "It's a long story,"

"We've got all day," Melissa said, the fierce look in her eyes making it clear that she wasn't about to take no for an answer. "Spill,"

"Uh…" Milo looked at Dakota with uncertainty. The boy didn't want to do anything that Dakota wasn't comfortable with. The thing was, Dakota was conflicted. His initial Squip programming made him want to keep the B.o.T.T.'s secrets. He had been created to be loyal to them. The thing was, he was also loyal to Milo, because the kid was the only person who was actually giving him a real chance. And the B.o.T.T. had never done anything for Dakota the way that Milo had. They definitely would never give him a chance like the kid did.

So what truly made Dakota comfortable, what he wanted, was whatever Milo wanted most. Milo was kind and loyal. He'd be willing to go along with whatever Dakota said, but he also didn't want to keep such a big secret from his friends.

"Go ahead and tell them," Dakota said. It wasn't really smart to try to tell Milo's parents the complete truth, but his friends were younger and more open-minded. They also already knew about time travel. Zack and Melissa would probably take little convincing, and Milo really trusted them, so Dakota did too.

"What about Sara?" Milo asked, though it sounded more like a suggestion than anything. "She's really curious, and she won't stop bugging you until you tell her what's going on,"

"Yeah, we can fill her in too," Dakota said. "But I don't want this to become public knowledge, okay?"

"We won't tell anyone," Melissa said quickly. She looked excited about learning about some big conspiracy. Zack seemed more nervous than anything, but his curiosity was stronger than his caution, so he nodded in agreement.

"Great," Milo grinned eagerly. "I should probably go get dressed first. You two go help yourselves to some pancakes, and we'll meet in the backyard in a few minutes." Melissa and Zack eagerly agreed and the two of them made their way into the kitchen as Milo went upstairs to his room. Naturally, Dakota followed his new partner upstairs. Maybe later he would feel okay about being away from Milo, but at the moment that wasn't the case. Dakota tried to tell himself that he just liked being around the kid. He refused to admit it was because of what Cavendish had done when _they'd_ been away from each other. He wasn't scared...he wasn't.

If Milo had any problems with Dakota following him, he didn't voice them. He didn't even think them very loudly, because Dakota couldn't sense the slightest bit of hesitation or annoyance from the boy.

As Milo went into his room, Dakota waited out in the hallway. He may want to be close to the kid, but that didn't mean that he was beyond the point of giving Milo some privacy. Even though Milo was changing, he still took advantage of the fact that they were alone to talk about some things that they couldn't really go deep into around the others.

"When you said that Cavendish poisoned you...you weren't serious, were you?" Milo asked like he was afraid to hear the answer.

Dakota sighed and leaned against the wall. "It's complicated, but yeah, I was serious," Dakota didn't really want to talk about this. After what Cavendish had done, this felt like a huge mistake, but Dakota wanted to be completely honest with Milo. If he was going to trust the kid, he wanted the kid to know that he trusted him.

"You know how you used a soda to activate the Squip?" Dakota asked, though it was more of a rhetorical question, as he didn't wait for an actual answer. "Well, they're deactivated in a similar way, except with a soda that was discontinued years ago."

"Maybe...maybe it was an accident?" Milo suggested cautiously, though he didn't sound all that confident. Even though the kid couldn't see him, Dakota shook his head.

"He went back in time specifically to get this soda," Dakota said. "He knew exactly what he was doing. And he…" Dakota felt his powers spark, influenced by his emotions. "He did it right in front of me,"

Milo was quiet for a moment. "...Did it hurt? I mean, physically." They both knew that emotionally it was torture.

Dakota closed his eyes as the memory came back to him. The worst part of course had been the fact that Cavendish had done it at all, as well as the way that Cavendish had tried to comfort him, like it would make up for it. But physically (At least, as physically as Dakota could feel), it hadn't really been a walk in the park. Dakota vividly remembered the searing pain in his head, the electricity running through his body, and the terrifying numb that had followed it.

"Yeah, it was pretty bad," Dakota admitted quietly. The door opened and Milo came out, fully dressed. Wordlessly the boy wrapped his arms around Dakota and just hugged him again. The kid was really upset.

"You don't deserve any of this," Milo said, and he sounded so sure of himself that it was hard to argue with. "If you really don't want to try to talk to Cavendish, I wouldn't blame you,"

"Thanks, kid," Dakota returned Milo's embrace this time. "But if you really want me to work things out with Cavendish, I'll give it a try,"

Milo stiffened and tightened his grip on Dakota. "Of course I want you to talk to Cavendish, but I don't want you to do it because it's what _I_ want. I want you to do what _you_ want."

Dakota frowned in confusion as he thought about it. "...I want you to be happy."

Milo pulled away and reached up to take Dakota's glasses off so he could look him in the eyes. "I don't want you around because I want you to serve me and always put me first. I want you here because you're my friend. You deserve to be happy, and you deserve to be yourself."

Dakota grimaced, for the first time wishing that he was wearing his sunglasses. He felt vulnerable without them. "I don't think I know how to do that,"

"That's okay," Milo gave him a reassuring smile. At this point, Dakota didn't think there was anything that would scare Milo away from him. "We'll figure that out together." Together, huh? Dakota really liked the sound of that.

"So, you ready to go talk to the others?" Milo stretched, though a moment later his grin slipped. "Unless you only said you were okay with talking about this because you knew it was what I wanted,"

"Well, that was part of it," Dakota put his hands in his pockets. "Honestly, I don't know if I'm ready to open up to more people, but...but I _like_ that I trust you. I want to trust your friends too, so, yeah, I really do want to tell them."

"If you're sure," Milo said slowly. He looked pleased though, which Dakota was glad about. He wasn't entirely sure if Milo was happy because they were explaining things to his friends, or because Dakota had opened up a bit about what he really wanted. Either way, they were both feeling pretty content about this whole situation.

Dakota was still really hurt and a little angry about what Cavendish had done to him, but despite this, and the poor circumstances that brought him here, Dakota was glad that he was here with Milo. He was a good kid, a good friend. Milo was more than Dakota deserved. He was going to do his best to make things up to the kid, prove to both of them that this wasn't a mistake.


	12. Chapter 12

Working with Milo was interesting, to say the very least. Definitely different from working with Cavendish. The time traveler was cold and distant from other people. Cavendish was far from uncaring, but he wasn't exactly the best at knowing what was the best thing to do in social situations. Cavendish did actually care about people, but he was also really ambitious. There were very few things that Cavendish would let get in his way.

Milo on the other hand seemed to care about people more than anything else. Sure, the kid was a hard worker, and he got things done well, but the kid never worked harder on anything than he did to help those around him, especially his family and friends.

Dakota had known this even before he'd become Milo's Squip, but there was a big difference between analyzing evidence and actually seeing it happen for himself. Dakota knew that Milo was kind and caring, and he got to experience it for himself almost immediately, when the boy had been more than happy to act as his host. Dakota then saw it again and again as Milo vouched for him, defended him, encouraged him. Milo saw the best in Dakota, even though he'd been given no reason to even try to look for it.

Honestly, Dakota was getting spoiled with how Milo treated him, because once his friends had been told the truth of just what he was, he'd had a hard time finding a moment's peace.

Melissa couldn't seem to care less about the fact that he was from the future, or that he'd been the one responsible for the whole pistachion thing. What seemed to interest her most about Dakota was the fact that he was a Squip, a super computer. Every time they saw each other she had a new 'challenge' for him. She quizzed him about random tidbits of history, and tried to stump him with lengthy math problems. She'd yet to ask Dakota a question he couldn't answer. He had access to every history database out there. As for math, Dakota was a supercomputer, he was technically _made_ of math.

Sara still seemed focused on the fact that Dakota had apparently served as the inspiration for one of one of the most interesting and mysterious characters in her favorite show. Dakota had never watched Doctor Zone before, but he still knew every single detail about it. He probably knew more about the show than Sara did, not that he'd ever tell her that. He already had Sara testing him, he didn't need the same thing from Sara. Especially since Milo's older sister was already asking him about some theories she had about the show. Sara asked if he and Cavendish were secretly brothers (they weren't), if Time Ape was actually a computer, like he was (Dakota seriously doubted it). Dakota tolerated the questions, but he and Milo both drew the line when Sara had asked if Time Ape had also tried to destroy the world and was secretly a villain. Dakota knew that Sara was just getting excited about her show, but he didn't need to hear it.

Zack was the most tolerable, but that was because he seemed to avoid Dakota completely. Zack reacted like most people would upon learning that someone that they'd met a few days ago was ago a supercomputer from the future that had almost destroyed the world, with caution. Zack didn't seem straight up afraid of him, and he hadn't tried to convince Milo that he was a danger to everybody around them, so he was reacting better than Cavendish had. Dakota thought there was a good chance that Zack would eventually relax around him, he just needed a little bit of time. Dakota hooped that it was sooner rather than later, because he was getting tired of Ash's friend walking on eggshells around him.

All in all, living with Milo was going a lot better than Dakota had hoped for. Milo was great, his friends, while overbearing, were at least interesting. And Milo's parents were very welcoming and understanding, even though they knew absolutely nothing about him. It was really nice.

What _wasn't_ so nice though was that Dakota was constantly around Murphy's Law. He would never talk about this with Milo, because the kid already blamed himself way too much for something he really couldn't help, but Dakota was really getting stressed about Murphy's Law.

Dakota had been programmed to predict any eventuality, and come up with the best possible solution. While not impossible, it was definitely really hard to predict what could happen when Murphy's Law, by nature, was unpredictable. Dakota could find a lot of information that explained Murphy's law, how it was caused by a high amount of negative probability ions, and Dakota could find thousands of reports about Murphy's Law related incidents all throughout time. He wasn't lacking information, but there was an unnervingly small amount of solutions for Murphy's Law.

Dakota wasn't exactly trying to cure Milo of Murphy's Law, he knew it wasn't possible, but he wanted to help the kid fight it. Milo was doing so much for Dakota, the least he could do was help him take on Murphy's Law. Dakota tried, he really did, but he wasn't very much help, or at least it seemed like Milo didn't think he was.

Dakota didn't know what he was doing wrong. Whenever Murphy's Law hit, Dakota was surprised for 0.0072 seconds, and then he was able to think of a way to overcome the problem, which only took 0.0528 seconds, bringing his overall reaction time to 0.06 seconds, which was miles above what humans could handle in a crisis. Dakota's solutions weren't perfect, but they'd end up with minimal damage for Milo, if only the boy would _listen to him._

Dakota leaned against the hospital wall, seething quietly and glaring at the waiting room wall. Milo was currently in surgery after a Murphy's Law incident gone horribly wrong. It was a freak accident, and people were still trying to figure out what had gone wrong (per Murphy's Law, old screws that really should have been replaced four months ago, had come loose, causing all kinds of trouble. The authorities wouldn't find the issue for a few more hours, at least).

"Dakota, are you okay?" He blinked and pushed his sunglasses into place as he felt Brigette touch his arm gently.

"I'm fine," Dakota said stiffly. He tried to control his emotions, as he was sure that his eyes were sparking. Hopefully his sunglasses were hiding his eyes enough to not be noticed.

"I know you're worried about Milo," Brigette said. "But this kind of thing happens all the time, the doctors here will take good care of him. He'll be up and running before you know it." Dakota knew all this, he knew that Milo would ultimately be fine, but that wasn't the point. The point was that none of this should have happened in the first place, and it wouldn't have if Milo had just done what Dakota had said in the first place.

Dakota had seen what the problem was and the potential danger that it could put Milo in way before things escalated to that point. Murphy's Law may follow Milo everywhere he went, but the bridge had been way too dangerous at that point. If Milo had just run and gone somewhere else like Dakota had told him to.

But no, Milo hadn't even considered Dakota's idea, not for one second. Instead he did what he always did, he tried to solve the problem instead of saving himself. The thing is, Milo couldn't use anything from his backpack to properly reinforce the bridge, or stabilize the beams. Milo was a smart kid, he should have known that, but that apparently wasn't enough to keep him from trying.

Dakota had alerted Milo as soon as he'd seen the problem, before any obvious signs of damage or danger could come up. In doing so he was hoping that Milo would have gotten off the bridge as fast as he could, but instead Milo had stayed behind and taken the time to make sure that everybody else was safe first.

Dakota had been annoyed, but when Milo had his mind set on something, he was hard to talk out of it. The most that Dakota could do was keep an eye out for escalating trouble.

Things had been going okay, at least, as well as it could be considering the bridge could either collapse or fall down on top of everybody any minute now. Most of the civilians had gotten away, and as far as Dakota could tell there was just Milo and a single woman who was still in her car, too scared to move.

Dakota knew that in times of distress, fight, flight, or freeze could kick in. Most people on the bridge had ran, flight, but this woman almost seemed in shock, freeze. It would take time for Milo to get her to move...time that they didn't have.

Dakota had been worried about Milo. He didn't want him to get hurt, so he'd done the only thing that he could think of. Dakota's eyes sparked as his programming got to work. He grabbed onto Milo's nervous system, and he took control. Milo wasn't going to leave on his own.

Dakota hadn't wanted to take control of Milo, they were supposed to be partners, friends. Normal Squips controlled their hosts, because they didn't actually care about their feelings. Dakota didn't want to end up like that, but he didn't have a choice. He wouldn't let Milo get hurt.

Dakota had tried make Milo get off the bridge, but it was hard. Milo's will was strong, and Dakota didn't truly want to do it. The end result was that Milo froze in front of the car, half of him trying to help the woman, half of him trying to get back. The struggle couldn't have lasted more than fifteen seconds, but that was fifteen seconds too long.

One of the beams just above the car creaked and threatened to fall. If Milo stayed where he was, he definitely wouldn't get away, so Dakota let go of his grip. Milo reacted immediately, opening the car door and grabbed the woman, pulling her out of the car. They were able to get out out just as the beam fell and crushed the car. Milo and the woman weren't killed, thank goodness for that, but neither of them walked away from it unscathed. Dakota didn't know what condition the woman was in, but Milo, he had a concussion, a lot of scrapes and bruises, but the biggest problem was that some shrapnel had ended up in his leg, which was what the surgery was for.

Nothing life threatening, and Dakota knew that Milo would recover rather quickly, but it was still concerning. None of this should have happened.

Brigette stayed close to Dakota, chatting idly to him. She had to know that he was only half paying attention, but she wasn't really there for conversation. She was there to provide support for him, distract him. She possibly thought that because of the past she thought he'd had, that he was anxious either about being in a hospital, even as a visitor, or that someone he cared about was hurt.

Dakota wasn't worried about Milo, he was _mad_ at him.

Dakota could have prevented any of this from happening. He had _tried_ to stop it, but Milo was resisting him, and he didn't know why. All Dakota had tried to do was protect the kid. Could Milo really not tell that much?

"Brigette," A doctor came out and approached Milo's mom, though she paused to put her hand on Zack's shoulder. She was familiar with the boy, possibly his mother.

"Eileen," Brigette put a hand on Dakota's arm, squeezing it reassuringly. "Is Milo okay?"

"He'll be just fine," The doctor, Eileen, said calmly. "He's already awake and is waiting in your room.

Brigette smiled. "That's good." She turned to Melissa and Zack, who had been waiting patiently with them, like this was just a regular Saturday afternoon for them (it was). "Can you kids stay here with Milo? I was supposed to pick up Sara an hour ago."

"We'll make sure he's okay, Mrs. Murphy," Melissa said.

Brigette patted Dakota's arm. "You're welcome to stay too, if you want," Yeah, there was no chance that he was leaving. Brigette turned back to the kids. "Martin should be here in about twenty minutes, as soon as his shift is over. I'll be back as soon as I get Sara." Most people refused to leave their child's side when they were in the hospital, but this was such a regular occurrence for the Murphy's that they had it down pat. They made sure it was nothing too bad, and then life just moved on as normal.

As Brigette left, Zack turned to his mother. "Can we go Milo now?"

"Of course," Eileen lead the three of them down the halls of the hospital, to a door marked the Murphy Suite...cute. "You know the drill, he won't be very aware, and I don't want you to agitate his leg, but he should be fine." Eileen opened the door and let them all in.

Milo looked excited to see his friends, but when his gaze landed on Dakota his gaze darkened ever so slightly. Dakota was mad, and it seemed like Milo was too.

"Hey, Milo," Melissa said casually, completely oblivious to the tension in the room. "You think this is going to give you another scar?"

"Probably," Milo said, and he sounded sincerely excited, though it was somewhat strained. "Uh, guys, can I talk to Dakota for a second?"

Zack looked at Dakota and looked taken aback. He had to have noticed the sparking in his eyes. "Uh," Zack looked at the door to check to see if his mom was still there, she wasn't. "Can't you two talk telepathically or something?"

"We can," Dakota admitted. "But I'd rather do things the old fashioned way." Milo nodded in agreement. Melissa and Zack both looked confused, but with a pleading look from Milo they reluctantly left the room, closing the door behind them. Once they were alone, Milo's grin slipped. He looked extremely vulnerable.

"Can you take the glasses off?" Milo asked.

Dakota grimaced, but did as Milo asked. His eyes were sparking like crazy, because of how high strung he was at the moment, but also because of the lingering anesthesia in Milo's systems. If something affected Milo's mind, it messed with his systems. Dakota was just glad that it wasn't as obvious as when his host got drunk, because that probably would have brought some questions.

"Dakota," Milo was frowning now. He didn't look all that mad, but he was definitely disappointed, which was possibly even worse. "Did you keep my body from moving?"

Dakota sighed and pulled up a chair. "I couldn't think of what else to do. You were putting yourself in danger. You refused to leave the bridge," Dakota's expression darkened. "And you wouldn't trust me when I tried to tell you to leave,"

"Wait, hang on," Milo looked confused now, and a little hurt. "Dakota, of course I trust you. Wha-what did I do to make you think I didn't?"

Dakota looked Milo in the eyes. Even though his eyes were sparking, Milo didn't even flinch. He maintained eye contact. "I've been trying to keep you from getting hurt. Whenever Murphy's Law happens, I can think of a solution in a moment, and I put the idea in your head of what you can do, and...you always ignore it. You don't listen to what I have to say,"

Milo shifted uncomfortably, and then flinched when he moved his leg in a way he shouldn't have. Milo was stiff for a moment before he relaxed. "That...it's not because I don't trust you. I know you care about keeping me safe, but your plans...they'd keep _me_ safe, but what about everybody else?"

Dakota blinked. "I...what?"

Milo gave him a gentle smile. "I can't just leave people to fend for themselves, I have to do whatever I can to help them,"

"I know, but when things are going wrong and you're in danger-" Dakota tried to say.

"Then other people are in danger too," Milo cut in. There was a familiar expression on his face, a lot like the one that Dakota had seen when Milo had talked to him about what was wrong with what he had done about the whole pistachion disaster. "I know you have a hard time with this stuff, but just because you know me, and just because you're my Squip now, that doesn't make my safety any more important than anyone else's."

Dakota frowned. Milo was right, he had a hard time understanding this stuff. He didn't know all these other people. He knew Milo, and he cared about him. He didn't want the kid to get hurt, even if that meant putting someone else's safety on the line in his place.

Milo seemed to tell exactly what Dakota was thinking, and he didn't seem happy with it, though he also didn't seem surprised. "Dakota, I appreciate your concern, really I do, but _I'm_ concerned about other people."

Dakota considered this. "I guess...I can't promise that I'll care about others as much as you, but if it's what you want, I'll take it into consideration in the future."

Milo's expression brightened. "You'd do that?"

Dakota shrugged. "Yeah, sure, I mean, if you want,"

Milo's excited grin fell slightly. "But...what do _you_ want?"

Dakota grimaced. Why did Milo have to get into this habit of asking that specific question when he knew that Dakota's desires were a lot different from his own? "I don't want you to get hurt," But it was obvious to anyone that Milo put the safety of others above his own, which Dakota admired him for, but it was frustrating to deal with.

Milo looked disappointed, not in Dakota, but in the circumstances. Milo was passionate about Dakota being his own person, living or more than just the happiness of his host, but Milo was also passionate about helping others. He seemed really upset that two things he cared so much about were at conflict with each other.

Dakota didn't like to see Milo so upset. "The thing is, I guess that includes emotional hurt, so if it really upsets you to see others in danger...yeah, I can help you with that."

"Even if it may put me in danger?" Milo raised an eyebrow at Dakota, who winced.

"...We'll see," Dakota said. He couldn't make any such promises, but he could try, or at least keep in mind what Milo wanted. "I'll tell you one thing though, I won't try to control you again. I _hate_ doing that. Makes me feel like a heartless monster."

Milo gave him a sympathetic smile. "I'm not mad at you, by the way. I know you were just trying to help." And Dakota could feel the kid's sincerity. It made it hard to stay mad at him.

"You're too good for me, Milo," Dakota said quietly, almost inaudibly, but by the way that Milo's eyes filled with sadness, the kid had heard him. "I'll try to do better, okay?"

"You _are_ doing better," Milo insisted. "But I'll try to do better too," Dakota didn't know what Milo was talking about. The kid was great. How much better could he be doing? But Dakota didn't say anything. His friends were wanting to see him, and his family would be here soon. This wasn't the time.

However, Dakota had more thing to say before their privacy disappeared. "If this whole partnership, or, I guess, friendship thing is going to work, we should probably make sure we're on the same page," Dakota didn't want to be worried that Milo didn't trust him because of an issue that was easily resolved.

Milo nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we probably should," Milo didn't look worried though, and neither was Dakota. There were a couple of things that they still had to work on, basic guidelines that they both needed to lay out. Dakota suspected this wouldn't be the first time that they would disagree about matters that they cared a lot about, but that was to be expected. Just because Dakota was downloaded into Milo's brain didn't mean that he agreed with the boy about everything. Chances were, they were going to argue again in the future, and it might be a lot worse than this discussion was, but Dakota tried not to worry about it. He was willing to make a few changes to make this work out, and it was clear that Milo was more than happy to do the same.

They both cared too much about each other to not figure things out.


	13. Chapter 13

Milo had never thought that he'd have a super computer programmed into his brain. It wasn't really the kind of thing that happened every day. Even if it was 'normal', Milo would probably not go for it, because of Murphy's Law and all of that. Murphy's Law caused a lot of problems, and technology caused a lot of problems. Milo didn't see the point in pushing his luck, so he tried to keep his technology use to a minimum.

Milo hadn't agreed to be the host for a Squip because he'd wanted to take advantage of having a supercomputer from the computer at his fingertips. He'd just wanted his friend back. However, Milo had to admit there were a lot of pretty neat advantages to being on the good side of a computer.

For one thing, Dakota helped out with his homework. Milo wasn't cheating and having Dakota give him the answers, it was more like the supercomputer was tutoring him. If Milo had any questions, Dakota could always answer it in a way that made sense to him. Milo wasn't just getting the answers to his schoolwork, he was understanding it much more than he usually did.

Dakota was also making it a lot easier to use technology. Milo went through cell phones faster than anyone else he knew. It got to the point that at any given moment he had four working cell phones, the one he was actually using, a backup in his backpack, a backup in his locker at school, and the last backup in his bedroom. He was lucky if any of those phones lasted a week.

Milo felt a little bad that his parents were spending so much money just so he could have a cell phone. He'd tried to convince them that he didn't need one, but they disagreed. Milo's mom had made it clear to him that she would spend as much money as she had to on cell phones if it meant he had a way of calling them should anything happen to him.

It was always a pain to transition to a new cell phone. Milo always had to put in the contacts, and then tell anybody who would potentially call him that his number may have changed. It was a little annoying, but Dakota made it much easier. Dakota had downloaded all of the data from Milo's phone, and whenever Milo got a new phone he would upload the data onto it in just a matter of seconds.

The only problem was that Dakota's system's still weren't perfect. Milo hadn't said anything to Dakota about it, because he didn't want to make his friend feel bad about something he couldn't help, but Dakota unintentionally added some additional information onto Milo's phones. He knew that it was an accident because one of the additional information was contact information... _Cavendish's_ contact information.

Dakota still got really upset whenever anybody even mentioned Cavendish, which was understandable. Cavendish had no idea how much he had hurt Dakota, and it seemed like if Dakota had his way he would never know. Milo still thought that Dakota and Cavendish should talk things out, but he wasn't going to force Dakota to do anything he didn't want to do.

Milo had thought about deleting Cavendish's information, but he had decided against it. If there was a pistachio or time travel related emergency, he may just have to call Cavendish, and if there was one thing Milo believed in, it was being prepared for anything.

Still, Milo had never expected to actually receive a call from Cavendish, so he was surprised when his phone rang and Cavendish's number flashed across the screen. Milo stared at his phone in shock, hesitating long enough for Dakota to see that something was wrong.

"Who is it?" Dakota leaned towards Milo to try to get a glimpse at his phone screen. Milo subtly shifted to keep it out of Dakota's sight. Milo didn't want Dakota to know that Cavendish was calling him, not unless he absolutely had to know.

Milo shook his head and answered the phone. "Hello?" He was cautious, but Cavendish wouldn't call him for no reason.

" _Warning...Big trouble! 1965!"_ Milo was surprised that Cavendish had called him, but he was even more surprised to hear Dakota's urgent voice coming out of the phone. Milo looked over at Dakota, who was oblivious to what he was hearing.

The call didn't stop there. " _You're just yelling words!"_ That...that was Cavendish's voice. Why would Cavendish be with Dakota? And why would Milo be getting a call from Dakota when the man was standing right next to him? " _Give him some actual information he can use!"_

Milo was so busy trying to figure out what the call itself could mean that he barely heard the end of the call. " _Oh yeah. Beware the intern!"_ And with that final strange warning from Dakota, the call ended. Milo stared at his phone in shock for a moment before looking at Dakota.

"Uh, did you ever call me from the year 1965?" Milo asked. Dakota frowned slightly.

"I've never even been to that year," Dakota's eyes flashed slightly from behind his sunglasses. "Why are you asking?"

Milo thought about how he should answer before he just decided on the truth. He didn't like lying to his friends. Besides, Dakota was programmed into his brain. Dakota may avoid reading Milo's mind, but he still could without even trying, and Milo would rather Dakota learn the truth straight from him instead of getting it by reading his mind.

"I just got a call from, well, from you," Milo said. Dakota looked even more shocked than he felt. "You mentioned danger, and 1965, and said something about being beware of an intern."

"I've never made a call like that," Dakota said quietly. The only thing that makes sense is that time travel is involved, that in the future I will travel to the past and then call you in the present...somehow."

"Oh, I need to go to 1965," Milo remembered suddenly. Dakota gave him a small smile.

"Right, because of that letter that you got from your friends, that they got from Orton Mahlson, that he apparently got from you in 1965," Dakota had been told about it. "You think we should go to the past and see what's wrong?"

"But, we don't have a time machine," Milo said. Dakota waved his question off.

"Nah, don't worry about it," Dakota grinned. "We can always get Savannah to loan us her time vehicle." Milo frowned, partly because he didn't want Dakota to force Savannah to do anything, even if he knew it couldn't hurt her, but also because Dakota wasn't the only one he'd heard from that call.

"Maybe, uh, maybe we could go talk to someone else?" Milo suggested, his tone getting quiet and hesitant. "Like Cavendish?"

"Cav?" Dakota stiffened. He looked scared. "W-why would we go to Cavendish? There's no way he'd help us."

"But I heard his voice too," Milo insisted. "You were _both_ in the call."

Dakota looked at Milo in suspicion. "You sure about that?" Milo nodded. "And how do I know this isn't just your way to get me to talk to Cavendish?"

Milo winced and looked at Dakota with wide eyes. "I wouldn't do that. You _know_ I wouldn't do that."

Dakota looked wary for another moment before he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Milo wondered if Dakota actually felt anything when he did this, or if this was just another human habit that he'd subconsciously picked up. "Yeah, I know."

"We don't have to involve Cavendish if you don't want to," Milo said, and he meant it. Dakota started shaking his head before he could even finish saying it.

"No, if the call was from both of us, then we both have to be there," Dakota said. "It can be dangerous to mess with the timeline."

"...but, wasn't that your job as time travelers?" Milo asked. "To mess with the timeline?"

"There were a lot of rules we had to travel while doing so," Dakota said. "That's why B.o.T.T. uses Squips. We can look into possibilities and decide the best course of action to make changes in the timeline without screwing things up really badly."

"Huh," Milo hadn't known about this part of time travel. Maybe if he was going to make a habit of time traveling he should know more about it. "So, we can't do this without Cavendish?"

Dakota frowned. "Unfortunately, it's probably best if he joins us,"

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Milo asked.

"No," Dakota gave him a strained smile and shook his head. "But let's do this anyways,"

"Alright, but this time I'm not going to be leaving you alone with him," Milo said. He wanted to still be friends with Cavendish, but after what he'd done to Dakota he wasn't eager to trust him. Milo knew that Cavendish would take the safety of the world, and even Milo's safety, very seriously, but the man had already shown that he couldn't be trusted when it came to Dakota's safety and well-being.

Dakota closed his eyes. Milo could vaguely feel Dakota searching his databases. It was a strange feeling, like Milo's brain was humming. After a few moments Dakota opened his eyes. "Cavendish already had an assignment today. He won't be at work, so he's probably back at the office apartment."

"So let's go," Milo wasn't exactly in a rush to confront Cavendish, but there wasn't a point in putting it off. Despite this though, neither of them were very eager to get where they were going, so they ended up taking more than five minutes longer than they normally would. Far too soon they were approaching the strip mall. Milo could see Cavendish's time vehicle in the parking lot.

Milo took a deep breath and looked at Dakota, who looked a little nauseous, even though Milo didn't think it was possible for a Squip to feel sick. He must be really nervous. "How about I go talk to Cavendish and ease him into this?"

"He's not going to be very happy," Dakota said quietly. He looked like he hadn't heard a word that Milo had said. He was staring at the strip mall like it was about to swallow him.

Milo put a hand on Dakota's arm. "Just stay here," Milo's suggestion sounded like more of an order than he would like, but he really needed Dakota to listen to him. "I'll be back in a minute." Milo waited for Dakota to odd his understanding. Milo took a deep breath and made his way to the building.

If he was honest with himself, he was a little nervous. Last time Milo had been here, he'd learned that Cavendish had tried to delete Dakota. Milo was going to do anything he could to stop a repeat performance from happening.

Milo made his way up the stairs. He looked back to see Dakota watching him cautiously. He looked a little hopeful though. Dakota may be a little scared of Cavendish, but they _had_ been partners. Dakota still cared about him. And Milo remembered how upset Cavendish had seemed last time he'd seen him. Maybe Cavendish was ready to give Dakota another chance. Or at the very least have the control to play nicely with Dakota while they made sure that nothing was wrong in 1965.

Milo sighed and knocked on the door. There was rustling inside, followed by a loud thud and Cavendish giving a yelp. He was definitely in there.

"Coming," Cavendish called out. A moment later the door opened and Milo was greeted by a ruffled and tired looking Cavendish. The man looked surprised to see him. "Oh, hello Murphy,"

"H-hey, Cavendish," Milo gave him a small smile. "How have you been?"

"Decently enough," Cavendish said, though the way that he shifted uncomfortably told a different story. Milo waited for a moment before Cavendish continued. "Honestly, I've been having a hard time with work. I can't exactly do my job when Mr. Block wants me to save pistachios. Last time we-I…" Cavendish cleared his throat. "-I did that, the world was nearly overrun by pistachios."

Milo frowned slightly. "But, the whole reason that happened was because Dakota fertilized a pistachio tree with fertilizer from the future mixed with diaminohexane. Normal pistachio trees wouldn't be able to take over the world." Milo blinked. Dakota hadn't actually told him any of that. Milo was getting this information directly from Dakota in his mind.

Cavendish eyed Milo in confusion. "When did Dakota tell you all that?"

"Uh…" Milo resisted looking behind him. They weren't ready for Cavendish to know that Dakota was there. Not yet. "You know, he never really kept any secrets from us. Dakota just needed a chance to be heard," Sometimes Milo was worried that he wasn't listening to Dakota as much as he should, but he was trying.

Cavendish hummed quietly, a look of longing in his eyes. Maybe he really did miss Dakota. This could work. "You're so trusting," Cavendish said, and he actually sounded jealous. "I wish I could have trusted Dakota the way that you had, but I...I just couldn't. I had no guarantee that he wouldn't do something horrible."

"But isn't that true for everybody?" Milo pointed out. You never knew just by looking at someone whether they were good or bad. Even when you saw something they did, how could you tell if they were actually good or bad, or if they were someone good who did something wrong, or if they were bad but did something good. And what about people who changed?

Cavendish considered Milo's words. "Yes, I suppose you have a point." He looked really uncomfortable. "Would you like to come in?"

"Uh, actually…" Milo looked back. Dakota had come closer and he was now standing at the base of the stairs. There was so much longing in his eyes. Ash silently asked Dakota if he was ready for this. Dakota hesitated, but he nodded. Milo turned back to Cavendish. "We have something that we need to talk to you about,"

"Of course. What's on your mind?" Cavendish said automatically. A moment later a look of confusion came into his eyes. "Wait a moment. What do you mean ' _we'?_ "

Milo smiled shyly and stepped aside, gesturing towards the stairs. Cavendish stepped forward and looked towards where Milo was gesturing. He froze when he saw Dakota standing there. For a long, tense moment none of them did or said anything. Dakota was nervous, Cavendish was frozen, and Milo anxiously looked from the man man to the other.

It was Dakota who finally broke the silence. He smiled tensely and gave a little wave. "H-hey, Cav," The sound of Dakota's voice seemed to break Cavendish out of his shock. The older man's eyes darkened. He grabbed Milo's arm and pulled him back suddenly, making the boy yelp in surprise.

"What are you doing here?" Cavendish said harshly. "You're supposed to be-"

"Dead?" Dakota's grin fell and his eyes sparked dangerously. Cavendish flinched and pulled Milo behind him in a protective manner.

Cavendish cleared his throat and straightened. "I was going to say shut down. You're a computer."

Milo frowned and pushed himself away from Cavendish. "Computers can still die though, and just because Dakota's a computer doesn't mean that he doesn't have feelings."

"He may _act_ like he has human emotions, but he isn't truly concerned about humanity." Cavendish said. Milo looked at Dakota, who actually looked a little embarrassed. As much as they didn't like it, Cavendish actually had a point. Milo knew that Dakota cared about him, and that he cared about Cavendish, even after everything that they'd been through. However, Dakota had made it clear that if there was a choice between Milo's wellbeing and anybody else's, Dakota would choose to help him every single time. Milo liked to think that Dakota was getting better, but he didn't actually know for sure.

"Hey, I'm working on that," Dakota said defensively. He actually sounded upset about Cavendish's accusation, which was understandable. It didn't matter how true Cavendish's claim was, it was still painful how venomous Cavendish's tone was. "Look, can we just talk? I think I deserve that much.

Cavendish eyed Dakota like he was expecting him to attack any moment now, which Milo didn't think was fair. Dakota wouldn't directly harm anybody. Cavendish, though, had already shown that he would.

"How are you here anyways?" Cavendish asked cautiously, like he was afraid to hear the answer.

Dakota made his way up the stairs. "At first I hitched a ride with Savannah, but I'm able to physically be here thanks to Milo," Cavendish turned and gave Milo a sharp look. The boy didn't flinch. He wasn't sorry for what he had done.

"What did you do?" Cavendish didn't sound mad at Milo, but he was definitely concerned for him.

"A Squip needs a host," Milo said as he looked at Dakota, who gave him a small smile of appreciation. "And I wanted my friend back."

"You…" Cavendish's eyes widened in horror. "You have a Squip in your head?"

"It's not that big a deal," Milo shrugged.

"It is a _huge_ deal," Cavendish insisted. "You have no idea just what a Squip could do to you."

"I know he can put thoughts in my head," Milo said. "I know he can manipulate my mind and make me fall asleep." Cavendish looked surprised about this. "I know Squips can shock me, and can control me, but I don't care. I'll take the risk if it means having Dakota around."

"You...you're really serious about this," Cavendish looked at Milo like he had just signed his own death warrant. He thought he was nuts. "Milo, Dakota could have destroyed the world."

"He deserves a second chance," Milo said unhesitantly. "And so do you." Cavendish blinked.

"Me?" Cavendish looked at Dakota, who looked just as surprised. "What did I do to have to need a second chance?"

Milo crossed his arms, unimpressed. "You tried to get rid of Dakota without even trying to understand his side of things."

Cavendish looked sheepish, though Dakota didn't know if that was because he was ashamed of what he'd done, or unnerved about being told off by a child. "Yes, well…"

"I want you guys to talk to each other," Milo said, glancing at Dakota. "But that can wait until later. Right now, we have stuff to do." Milo turned his attention to Cavendish. "I got a call from you, and I think I got it from 1965."

Cavendish blinked. "Oh? I don't remember giving you a call when I was in 1965." Dakota flinched and Milo felt a small spark in his brain. Dakota was really upset. Milo didn't completely understand it. All Cavendish had done was mention his time in 1965...a time that Dakota had said he hadn't been in himself. Was Dakota upset that Cavendish had time traveled without him? Maybe, but he definitely shouldn't get _this_ upset, there was something more to this.

Milo looked at Dakota with concern and curiosity. Dakota sighed and a moment later Milo remembered a conversation they'd had, about how exactly Cavendish had tried to shut down Dakota. Milo remembered how Dakota had mentioned that Squips could be turned off with a soda that had been discontinued years ago. And that Cavendish had gone specifically back in time to get that soda.

Was _that_ why Cavendish had gone to 1965? That wasn't very nice. No wonder Dakota was upset. Milo hoped that this didn't make things weird when they went back to figure out what had happened.

"We think there might be trouble, and we were thinking maybe we should go check it out," Milo said.

Cavendish eyed Dakota cautiously. "It could be a trap."

Dakota's eyes flashed dangerously. "You seriously think I would do something like that?"

Milo stepped between the two of them before they could really get at each other. "Dakota wouldn't do that. I trust him."

Cavendish sighed and glared at Dakota. "...we'll go see what's going on in 1965, but I'm warning you now, if you give me _any_ reason to believe that you're going to harm _anybody_...well, we'll already be in 1965. I swear, I _will_ find the nearest bottle of Wyatt Burp orange soda and _force_ Milo to drink it if it comes to that."

Milo's breath got caught in his throat. Cavendish had tried to act serious, like he was someone to be reckoned with, but he'd always seemed kinda goofy to Milo. At this moment though, he actually seemed intimidating and it was a little scary.

Dakota scowled and shoved his hands in his pockets. For such a casual pose, Dakota looked almost as intimidating as Cavendish sounded. "You've got another thing coming if you think that I'm just going to let you force Milo into doing _anything._ " Milo didn't like that these two were arguing with each other, but especially since they were fighting over _him._

"Guys, can't we just _pretend_ to get along with each other? At least until we figure out what's going on?" Milo suggested. He understood that Cavendish and Dakota didn't trust each other, but did he really have to be the adult here?

Dakota sighed. "Whatever you say, kid." Milo gave Dakota an unimpressed look. Dakota knew that Milo didn't want him to do things just because he wanted him to. Dakota smirked at Milo's displeasure and shrugged.

"Yes, alright," Cavendish straightened his jacket. "So, shall we go?" He said this as though he'd been the one impatiently waiting for them. Milo kept himself from pointing out that they'd had to take the time to explain things to him. He didn't want to deal with another argument.

"Yeah, let's go," Milo said cheerfully, automatically putting himself between Cavendish and Dakota. He may not like them fighting, but he didn't really mind playing mediator between them, at least until they could figure things out for themselves. And who knows, maybe there really was trouble in 1965 and they'd be able to work out their differences to deal with what was wrong. Milo didn't exactly want there to be trouble, but if it was what gave Cavendish and Dakota a reason to get along with each other again, maybe it would be worth it.

Besides, whatever trouble was going on in 1965, if any at all, it couldn't be _that_ bad...right?


	14. Chapter 14

Dakota had never been nervous about time traveling. It was just something that he'd been designed to accept as completely normal. This time though, he didn't know what to expect. Dakota hadn't realized just how much he had come to rely on having previous information when it came to traveling to the past. He'd always had access to prior information, he knew what he was traveling for, and he knew what the goal was. The whole thing with the pistachions had been the closest thing to not knowing what to expect that Dakota had to deal with when time traveling, and he'd orchestrated that whole incident, so it didn't exactly count.

Now they were going to 1965, and Dakota had no idea what to expect. He knew there was enough trouble that he felt the need to warn Milo about it, but that was about it.

If it was just the time traveling itself that Dakota was dealing with, he would adjust. However, he was also having to deal with being around Cavendish, and he had no idea what to expect from that. Would Cavendish try to shut him down again? Would Cavendish be stiff and awkward around him because he didn't know what to expect from him? Would they actually make up, or would the two of them just do their best to tolerate each other's company because it was necessary, and then go back to pretending that they could ignore the other when all this was over? Dakota hated not knowing.

It was times like this that Dakota most missed being activated in Cavendish's mind. It was a lot easier knowing how to deal with the man when you could just read his thoughts.

When they got to 1965, Cavendish looked around in confusion at where they were. "Are...are we at a film studio?" Cavendish turned to Dakota, an accusing glare of annoyance in his eyes. "This wasn't the location that I input."

Dakota shrugged unapologetically. He saw nothing wrong with overriding the destination that Cavendish had previously chosen. "We don't know exactly what trouble we're looking for here, but one thing we do know is that Milo has to give a letter to some guy named Orton Mahlson, and at this time, Orton would be at Balsawood Studios, filming the first season of Doctor Zone."

"Doctor Zone?" Milo's eyes widened and he looked excitedly towards the film studio. "It's being filmed right now?" Milo had been to the future, but he definitely seemed much more impressed about being so close to where the filming of his favorite show happened, while the show was even in the process of being filmed. Dakota wondered just how ecstatic Sara would be if she was here. Milo turned to Dakota with a pleading look in his eyes. "Can we watch the filming?"

Looking at the exact time and date, Dakota couldn't help but chuckle. "Trust me, right now it's not nearly as exciting as you think it is." Balsawood Studios' records showed that though they did begin filming Doctor Zone today, it wouldn't be what Milo had in mind for another two hours or so. Right now, they had just put a stop to filming a scene about a zoning commissioner. Not exactly the most exciting thing in the world.

Milo looked slightly disappointed, and Dakota couldn't have that. "We'll watch the filming a little later. Right now, don't you have someone you want to talk to?" Dakota gestured to the studio doors where a confused and somewhat downtrodden looking man was walking out. Milo practically squealed when he saw him.

"You...you're Orton Mahlson!" Milo ran up to the man, who just looked bewildered about being greeted by a strange child in this way. Milo was practically shaking with excitement. "I'm your biggest fan! Actually, my sister is, though there are a lot of other people who think that they are. But I'm up there, I swear!"

Orton blinked. "I'm sorry, I don't...you know who I am?"

"Of course I do," Milo half laughed. "You're the creator and star of Doctor Zone!"

Orton smiled slightly. He looked relieved. "Can you tell me more about this 'Doctor Zone'?"

"Ah, perhaps you'd better not," Cavendish stepped in before Milo could really get going, like he so desperately looked like he wanted to. Cavendish pulled Milo aside a little. "You shouldn't tell people too much about the future, or you may mess up the time stream," Cavendish said this in what he seemed to think was a secret, quiet tone, but Orton was still standing right there, and he heard it just fine.

"Future?" Orton raised an eyebrow. "Time stream…" Orton looked at the notepad in his hands, an excited glimmer in his eyes. "That sounds _weird."_

Dakota hummed to himself and closed his eyes. Orton Mahlson was a really famous public figure in the future, so it wasn't hard to find information about him, but Dakota was looking for something specific, something that would have been written by Orton himself. Something that said exactly what his inspiration for Doctor Zone had been.

"Hey, are you okay?" Dakota jumped when he felt Orton touch his arm. He was not used to physically feeling things like this. It always surprised him. He looked at Orton, he was watching him with concern, and no both Cavendish and Milo were looking at him too. "You looked...weird." Again, Orton said this as though 'weird' was a good thing.

"I'm fine," Dakota shrugged off the touch on his arm. "I'm just looking for some information."

Now Cavendish was _really_ interested in what Dakota was doing. "What kind of information?" Cavendish asked suspiciously.

"Just give me a minute and I'll tell you," Dakota said, closing his eyes again. It was easier to focus on the data he had access to when he wasn't distracted to things right in front of him. A moment later Dakota found a copy of Orton Mahlson's memoirs. Now that, that was information that Dakota could use. One look told Dakota everything he needed to know.

"It's okay, kid," Dakota said to Milo. "Tell Orton whatever you want,"

"A-are you sure?" Milo asked cautiously, though Dakota could tell just how badly he wanted to do just that. Dakota nodded.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Dakota said. "Knock yourself out," Milo immediately launched into a long, detailed, and very excitable explanation as to just what Doctor Zone was. Orton was completely invested in what Milo was saying, occasionally writing something down in that notebook of his. Cavendish on the other hand had his entire focus on Dakota.

"Why would you tell Milo to talk about time travel?" Cavendish asked in a low, harsh whisper. "You know it's against the rules."

"There are exceptions to every rule," Dakota said. "Don't worry so much. Trust me, this is how Orton Mahlson is _supposed_ to be inspired to create Doctor Zone. He says so in his memoirs and everything."

Cavendish still looked extremely concerned and unconvinced. He looked nervously towards Orton, to see if he was listening, but he was paying them no attention. "What if Milo says more than he should?"

Dakota shrugged. "Then Orton will have more inspiration than before," Dakota meant this as a half joke, but Cavendish looked horrified about it. Dakota shrugged. "What do you want? People have learned about their futures before and nothing has gone seriously wrong yet."

"Yes, but those instances had been closely monitored and supervised by B.o.T.T." Cavendish said anxiously.

"By the _Squips_ at B.o.T.T." Dakota reminded Cavendish. "And in case you've forgotten, I am one of those,"

Cavendish gave him an exasperated look. "Yes, but you're...different."

Dakota frowned. His eyes sparked, making Cavendish flinch. Milo paused in his conversation with Orton to look towards Dakota in concern. He must have felt something. "I know I'm _defective,_ but I'm still a Squip."

Cavendish fidgeted uncomfortably. "You shouldn't say that about yourself," Dakota frowned at Cavendish and tilted his head slightly. Cavendish cleared his throat and straightened. "I see how upset you get when someone else implies that you are defective, or faulty in any way. You shouldn't say something about yourself when you don't like to hear it from others." Dakota blinked, feeling somewhat in shock. What Cavendish was saying made sense, but what was surprising to him was that he hadn't expected to hear Cavendish say something like this to anybody, let alone to him.

"...Why do you care if I say bad things about myself?" Dakota asked. He wasn't really in the habit of talking bad about himself. Sure, he had some self doubt, just like anybody else, but it wasn't that bad.

Cavendish looked uncomfortable. "Because…" Cavendish sighed. "Honestly, because I still care about _you."_

Dakota started. It felt like a spark went through his whole body. Milo cried out in alarm and pain, putting his hand to his head. Cavendish blinked and quickly moved towards Milo.

"Murphy, are you alright?" Cavendish put his hands on Milo's shoulders. Orton stepped back slightly, watching them in concern.

"What happened?" Orton asked. None of them answered him.

"I'm fine," Milo quickly turned his attention to Dakota, concern in his eyes. "What about you?"

"I'm fine, kid," Dakota shoved his hands into his pockets. "Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you." Cavendish wasn't convinced, but Milo could tell how sincere he was.

"It's okay," Milo said far too cheerfully. "So, uh, how's things going? You two want to join me and Orton? He's really interested in time travel."

Dakota chuckled. "Yeah, I imagine he is," Orton wasn't the most creative person in the world. He couldn't come up with ideas without some kind of inspiration. However, what Orton was great at was storytelling. He knew how to get people invested in what he had to say, all he needed was a story. "Nah, we're fine, me and Cavendish have some things we've gotta talk about still,"

Everybody seemed content with Dakota's suggestion, except for Orton, who was now watching Dakota with confusion. The man seemed to want to ask him about something, but as soon as Milo started talking to him about Doctor Zone again, Orton turned his attention back to the boy. Cavendish and Dakota were free to talk to each other again, and after calming down from the shock of Cavendish's words, Dakota was ready to confront Cavendish about it.

"Alright, look, Cav, you can't just do that," Dakota said irritably. "You can't claim that you care about me when you tried to shut me down, and then threatened to try it again." To his credit, Cavendish flinched, looking slightly ashamed of himself.

I am not fond of the Squip part of you," Cavendish admitted.

Dakota raised an eyebrow at him. "The Squip part?"

"Yes, you know, the part of you that thought it was a good idea to save my career by destroying the world," Cavendish said.

Dakota crossed his arms. "So tell me, what 'part' of me _do_ you like?"

"The part that is more human," Cavendish said gently. "The part that cares about Milo...the part that cares about me."

Dakota sighed. "Alright, let's get one thing straight," Dakota said. "I'm not some weird Squip human hybrid thing. There's no 'part' of me that's a Squip. I'm just _me_ , and what I am is a Squip that has some flaws in my programming. You know, if I was a regular Squip, I never would have done what I did. It's because of my faulty programing that I thought it would be okay. But it's also because I'm defective that I actually care about people." At least, some people, but it was more than what most Squips could say.

Cavendish frowned slightly, looking thoughtful. "I suppose you may be right," He didn't seem entirely convinced, but for the first time since this whole mess started Cavendish was actually willing to listen to him, and that was all that Dakota could ask for right now.

"You're time travelers?" Cavendish and Dakota turned towards Orton when they heard him loudly proclaim this. The man had been looking at Milo, but was now looking at Cavendish and Dakota in awe. "You're all from the future?"

"Wha...Milo!" Cavendish put his hands on his hips. "It's one thing to tell him about a show, and another thing to tell him that we're time travelers. Milo grinned and shrugged apologetically.

"Sorry, but he wanted to know why you two were acting so weird," Milo said. Dakota chuckled. It seemed that Orton had a new favorite word. "And he wants to know what a Squip is."

"Oh, that," Dakota looked at Cavendish and Milo. Neither of them seemed to know what to say to Orton. Maybe it wasn't smart, but Dakota was the Squip here. If he wanted to tell Orton what was going on, well, that was his business. "I'm, well, I'm not entirely human."

Cavendish's eyes just about bulged out of his skull. "Dakota!" Cavendish snapped at him.

"Not human?" Orton came closer to him, eyeing him curiously. "You certainly look like you're human." Orton began to doodle something in his notebook. "What are you?"

"You know what a supercomputer is, right?" Dakota asked. Orton grinned and nodded. He was familiar with the term, though Dakota thought that most people in 1965 had heard the term before. Supercomputers were a relatively new, but well-known concept in his time period. "Well, there you go,"

"A supercomputer," Orton finally stopped writing in his notebook. "You're unlike any computer I've ever seen before,"

"Well, I _was_ created in the future," Dakota said. He and Cavendish came from the year 2175, nearly 200 years after Orton's time. "But _this_ , this isn't the actual computer. This is just a physical form that I adopted, because it's what makes more sense to people." Early versions of the Squip used to not take physical forms at all, they were just in their host's head. But time travelers were conspicuous enough as it was when they were in time periods that weren't their own, they didn't need the added attention that would come from them all talking to themselves.

"The actual computer is in my brain," Milo gestured to his head.

"Fascinating," Orton muttered. There was an amazing spark in his eyes. He'd definitely been inspired by something, and he was quick to take a note of it in that notebook of his. Dakota was amused by Orton. The man meets time travelers and talks to a supercomputer, and his first thought went to how he could incorporate it into his show. He was an interesting guy.

"I think that's enough information about the future," Cavendish said sternly, leaving little room for argument. "Don't we have something we're supposed to be doing here? You know, the entire reason why we came to this time period in the first place?"

"Oh, yeah," Milo looked around before turning to Orton. "Hey, we were told to come here, and to beware of an intern. Do you know of any interns that we should be worried about?"

"Ah, not that i can think of," Orton frowned slightly. "The only intern we have here is completely ordinary. He told me so himself."

Cavendish groaned and brought a hand to his head. Dakota felt slightly annoyed as well. Milo frowned slightly. "Uh, Orton, don't you think that people who are actually completely ordinary, who do completely ordinary things, don't actually have to _say_ that?"

Orton blinked. "...Ah, yes, that's true." For a guy who was so obsessed with the weird and unusual, he didn't seem very good at recognizing it when he saw it.

"What kind of 'completely ordinary' things does this intern do?" Dakota asked. He tried to take a quick look into his data systems. There had to be information about just who this intern was there. If he could get information about that, maybe he'd be able to figure out if this guy was the intern they were supposed to be looking for, and if he was, just what was so dangerous about him?

"Well, at first he actually was quite ordinary," Orton said. "A few weeks ago he started talking differently, and taking photos of everybody at the studio. After that, everybody else started acting strangely too," Orton frowned. "I thought it was just because the television business is strange, so it attracts strange people."

"Yeah, but even in show business, there's still a level of normality that one can expect." Cavendish said before turning to Milo with a slight frown. The boy was grimacing slightly and rubbing the back of his head. "Are you alright?"

"Sorry, that's me," Dakota apologized. He hated how he had, once again, accidentally hurt Milo. He wasn't trying to, he really wasn't. "I'm just...confused, I guess," Dakota closed his eyes. "I'm trying to find information about our intern friend, but everything is all screwed up. It's like whenever I start looking through a file, it changes on me. It's like I'm reading two different versions of the same files."

Cavendish frowned. "That shouldn't happen, not unless…" Cavendish blinked, a look of understanding coming into his eyes. "Unless the timeline is in the process of being changed." A central part of time traveling was changing the past, that was the whole point. When you changed the past, it took time for the timeline to adjust itself around the changes. Even files and documents changed. Once the timeline had adjusted, only those who had direct ties with the changes would remember the original timeline.

This was why B.o.T.T kept files about all of the different changes in the timeline. Squips who were involved with the original timeline would transfer that information to specific B.o.T.T. files so that they could all access information from all timelines.

Dakota saw no B.o.T.T. records that said that there were any agents in this time period, so there was another reason why the timeline had changed. And since this intern's information was directly affected by these changes, he had _something_ to do with them. It seemed like they'd found the intern they were looking for.

"Let's go talk to this guy," Dakota said before turning to Orton. "You mind helping us get in there?" Normal people weren't really allowed in television studios when they were in the middle of filming, but if the creator of the show vouched for them, well, that was another story.

"Of course," Orton looked eager to be part of the action. "I should probably get started on my show anyways. We're already falling behind."

"Oh, can I help?" Milo raised his hand eagerly. "Please, please, please?"

""Of course," Orton said without hesitation. "You have a computer in your head, I think you're an expert on weird things, and that is just what I need,"

"Yes!" Milo cheered. He grabbed Orton's arm and pulled him back into the studio building. Cavendish and Dakota looked at each other.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Dakota said as the two of them followed the others inside. The changing timeline, I don't like this,"

"Neither do I," Cavendish agreed. "Murphy and Mahlson seem too invested in their television program to truly consider the implications of what could be going on here." Sometimes Dakota forgot just how much Cavendish liked to needlessly use fancy words. Maybe he just thought that it made him seem smart.

"Guess we'll just have to watch out for them _and_ the intern," Dakota said. He didn't know what to expect from the intern or the television studio, but he doubted it was going to be anything good.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N:** **I feel like this chapter is all over the place. I mean, I kinda like it, but at the same time it feels a little sloppy. Hope it's okay.**

* * *

Cavendish fidgeted uncomfortably and looked around the film studios. They'd only come inside a moment ago, and yet everybody was already darting around to put together Orton Mahlson's show. Milo was running around, getting excited about every new thing he saw. Orton had been dragged off to be prepared for filming. Neither of them seemed very concerned. That was alright, Cavendish was concerned enough for both of them, and he even had some concern remaining for Dakota.

The Squip wasn't acting like himself. Dakota was extremely distracted, and more than once Cavendish had to pull him out of the way before he could get trampled by a director or prop master. Cavendish knew that Dakota had to be doing research, or at least trying to. He'd never seen Dakota so in his own head. Dakota was extremely confused, and he was looking for answers. Not only that, but Cavendish thought that Dakota was trying harder than he normally would to not affect Milo with his confusion or searching.

Cavendish wanted to ask Dakota what exactly he was looking for, or if he had found any answers yet, but he held back. Distracting Dakota would do neither of them any good. When Dakota had answers, he would share it. Cavendish just had to trust him to at least do that.

While he waited Cavendish searched the crowd for the intern that they were apparently supposed to be looking for. It didn't take him very long to find him. The intern was the youngest individual there who wasn't a child. He looked like a college student. He didn't seem like the kind of person that Cavendish would give a second glance, but since he knew that the intern was a potential threat, he paid close attention.

It took a moment, but Cavendish thought there was something off about the intern. Maybe it was just his initial suspicion and bias speaking, but Cavendish thought that the intern wasn't moving completely naturally. It was as though he knew how to move, but wasn't completely comfortable or familiar with his body.

Cavendish frowned and nudged Dakota's arm. The Squip frowned, a look of awareness coming back into his eyes as he turned to Cavendish. He gestured to the intern. "Is it just me, or does his movement look a little unnatural?"

Dakota blinked and looked at the intern, who was currently speaking to Orton about something. "I don't know. Everybody here is moving strangely. It could be because they're all involved in show business. It could be because we're in the sixties. It could be that whatever is going on with the intern is going on with everybody here. I seriously don't know. My systems are feeling all screwy. I can't focus."

Cavendish frowned slightly in concern. "Something must be interfering with your systems." Just that fact in and of itself was cause for concern. Very few things could mess with a Squip's systems, and none of it was regularly used technology from the 1960s. "Perhaps we should tread cautiously."

"Oh, definitely," Dakota agreed immediately. His frown deepened when they saw Orton follow the intern into what looked like a closet. "I don't have a good feeling about this,"

Cavendish was also concerned, but he tried to keep calm. Freaking out now would do nothing for their situation. "I'm sure Orton will be fine." A moment later the closet door opened again and they saw Orton walk out again and make his way to the set, where they were almost ready to begin filming. "There, see, he's just fine,"

Dakota grimaced. "I seriously don't think so, because I've been finding information consistencies about almost everybody on this crew, just like our intern friend, and guess whose files have just started to change?" Dakota's confused expression turned to one of intense anger and concern. "What's Milo doing up there on the film set?"

Cavendish blinked and looked to see that Milo was, in fact, on set. It seemed they needed a child for the particular scene, but, probably because of Murphy's Law, the original child was unconscious and on the ground. "It seems he's about to get his fifteen minutes of fame."

Dakota's eyes flashed ever so slightly. He seemed to be looking for information again. "The way that guy moves, I feel like I've seen it...why can't I find the record in my files."

"Not everything is recorded in the B.o.T.T.'s database." Cavendish reminded Dakota. "Try relying on your own memories."

Dakota blinked, like the thought hadn't even occurred to him. He was silent for a moment, and Cavendish could tell that he was going through this new version of searching. A few moments later Dakota's eyes widened. "It looks like...but that's not possible, unless…" Cavendish stepped back in surprise as he saw a spark go through Dakota's whole body not just flashing in his eyes. He wasn't just worried about some, he was _terrified._ "I...ah, man, I think I seriously screwed up." Cavendish had never, _ever_ seen Dakota look this scared or guilty, not even after the pistachion incident.

"What did you learn?" Cavendish asked, feeling rather nervous.

"I think...I think-" Dakota suddenly stiffened and to Cavendish's alarm his form seemed to waver. At this exact instant, Milo cried out in distress and pain. Cavendish's eyes snapped to Milo and he saw that the boy was clutching his head, his eyes scrunched up in pain. It seemed whatever was messing with the Squip had gotten stronger, enough to affect Milo, and quite badly it seemed.

Cavendish noticed that Orton was scooting closer to Milo. His first thought was that Orton was merely concerned and checking to see that Milo was alright. Except orton was moving too subtly, like he didn't want to draw attention to himself, and Orton hadn't struck Cavendish as the kind of person who cared about what people thought of him.

Dakota blinked. He seemed to be trying really hard to focus. Whatever was going on with him, Dakota was doing his best to resist it. Dakota's eyes sparked so much that Cavendish could swear that he could feel the electricity. Very suddenly Dakota shouted out a warning. "Milo, stay away from that guy!"

Cavendish didn't think that Milo was in any condition to react, so he was surprised when the boy, still clutching his head and bent over in pain, ran right off the set. Milo had barely ran a few feet before he seemed to trip over his own feet. Milo fell into a camera, which fell over and began knocking a number of other things over. Cameras, lights, and even people, fell until something fell into the door of the closet that Orton had just walked out of. The door was flown open and Cavendish was alarmed to see Orton Mahlson sitting in the closet, gagged and tied up.

Cavendish stood frozen in shock for a moment. Why was he looking at two Orton Mahlsons? That shouldn't be possible. It didn't take Cavendish long to surmise that the tied up Orton was the true one, but if that was the case, then who was the Orton on set that was glaring daggers at Milo?

"Get them!" The fake Mahlson pointed at Milo, and then at Cavendish and Dakota. Immediately everybody else on set turned on them. Cavendish didn't know what was going on, but they had to get out of there. This wasn't the time to stay and wait for answers.

"Dakota, we must go," Cavendish took Dakota's arm and pulled him. Dakota was back to looking dazed and generally unwell, but his eyes were still flashing. It was the only part of him that wasn't completely frozen. As Dakota's eyes flashed Cavendish noticed that Milo, who looked about as well as Dakota did, stood up and began to run awkwardly towards the door. It looked unusual, like Milo wasn't actually in control of his legs. Somebody else was moving him, and looking at Dakota, whose sparking eyes gave away that he was using his powers, it wasn't hard to guess who was responsible.

Generally, Cavendish didn't agree with Squips using their influence over their hosts to control them. It seemed excessive. However, they really had to get out of there, so maybe Cavendish could forgive Dakota for controlling the boy when he seemed unable to move for himself at the moment. As they caught up to Milo and were about to pass by where the real Orton was bound, Dakota twitched.

"We gotta…" Dakota grunted and Milo began to falter in his steps. Dakota seemed to have a hard time multitasking at the moment. "We gotta bring Orton with us."

Cavendish felt unsure. He didn't want to leave Orton in danger, but it would be difficult enough for him to drag two barely functioning people behind him, he didn't need to add a third. But Dakota had forced out the request, even though he seemed to be struggling just to keep Milo moving. If Dakota had risked Milo's safety, it had to be important to him. Even if Cavendish didn't completely understand it, he decided to do as Dakota requested.

Cavendish paused to pull Orton to his feet. His ankles were bound, but Cavendish didn't have the strength to carry him, and he didn't have the time to untie him. "I sincerely hope you're good at hopping." Cavendish said. Orton looked scared, but determined. He began hopping after Milo, who was practically at the entrance. A couple of crew members reached out for Milo, but Murphy's Law hit, and thanks to Dakota's quick instincts, the boy was able to dodge out of the way while the crew members were all crushed by a falling set wall. Milo was out. Now the rest of them just had to follow behind him.

Cavendish returned to Dakota, who was standing just where Cavendish had left him. It seemed that Dakota couldn't focus on moving himself and Milo at once. Cavendish was just relieved that Dakota could move when Cavendish was pulling him along, otherwise they would be in trouble.

Cavendish evaded a number of people reaching out for them, pulled stabilized Orton, who seemed about to fall, and pulled Dakota out of the way of incoming vines (vines! What were vines even doing there?!). Cavendish didn't pause to look back, he just had to get them out of there.

Once they were in the parking lot, though they still had to move quickly, the going got easier. There weren't crew members everywhere, and there were no falling set pieces to avoid. They were soon at the car. Cavendish practically shoved both Orton and Dakota into the backseat of the car where Milo was already sitting. Cavendish slammed the door shut and dashed into the front seat.

He quickly began trying to turn the car on, but just their luck, the car seemed to be stalling. They didn't have time for this! Cavendish could see the crew members catching up to them now. The fake Orton was glowering at them. Out of the corner of his eye Cavendish saw more vines, but he didn't focus on them or try to figure out where they were coming from. The only thing he could worry about was getting the car started and getting out of that time period.

Cavendish continued trying to get the car going, but he was having a really hard was no guarantee that this would even work. Cavendish couldn't work on this as much. He looked towards Dakota, who looked like he was getting ready to shut down. He needed rest, and it would probably do both Milo and Dakota some good, but it would have to wait for another moment.

"Dakota, can you get the car started?" Cavendish asked urgently.

Dakota grimaced, but his eyes flashed one more time and the car got started very suddenly. Cavendish didn't waste any time. He sent them off into the time stream before the crew members could attack and damage their car. It was only once they were in the time stream did Cavendish allow himself to relax and breathe. He turned towards the backseat, looking towards his companions. "Is everyone alright?" They certainly didn't look alright. Orton was still tied up. Milo was still clutching at his head, but he seemed a little more aware than he did before. As for Dakota, he looked exhausted and completely drained.

"What...what happened back there?" Milo asked. He still seemed to be in pain, but Milo knew how to function while hurt. Milo turned to Orton and began to untie him.

"A lot," Dakota said. He sounded like he was about to be sick, which wasn't physically possible for a Squip. "You'll have to be more specific,"

"Okay, uh, why does my head feel like it exploded?" Milo asked.

Cavendish knew this answer. "Before the Bureau began to use Squips, the supercomputers were seen as a threat. People came up with a way to interfere with a Squip's signal. It wouldn't shut them down completely, but there are numerous ways to cause a Squip trouble. It's a pain while it lasts, both for the Squip and the host, but it will wear off eventually."

"But what caused it?" Milo asked.

Cavendish paused. "Honestly, I'm not entirely sure." He turned to Dakota. "Wouldn't you have been able to tell if there was something there that was a potential threat to you?"

"I saw nothing in my files," Dakota said. "Nothing on a normal studio set should have done anything. I bet they brought something in to take care of me."

"Don't be absurd," Cavendish scoffed. "Nobody knew we were coming, and even if they did, they wouldn't have been able to know that you were a Squip, let alone how to stop one."

Dakota flinched and looked out the window. "They could if one of them was from the future, and if they'd met us before." Cavendish narrowed his eyes at Dakota.

"What are you talking about?" Cavendish snapped. Dakota had seemed slightly nervous and distinctly upset just before he'd begun to seem unwell. Just what was it that he had realized that could make him like this?

Dakota sighed and turned back to them. "I think those guys were pistachions,"

Milo finished untying Orton's arms. The man took the gag away from his mouth. "What's a pistachion?"

"They're sentient pistachios that tried to take over the world," Milo said from the floor, where he was trying to untie Orton's legs.

"Yes, and we erased them from the time period," Cavendish gave Dakota a pointed look. "None of them should exist anymore."

"You remember how I knocked one of those nut jobbers into the time stream?" Dakota asked.

"You mean…" Cavendish paled. "Oh dear." Dakota nodded. Milo sat up and looked from Cavendish to Dakota.

"What are you guys talking about?" Milo asked.

Cavendish cleared his throat and began to look out the window himself, almost paranoid that he would see more pistachions floating around the time stream. "Well, when you're in the time stream, you're unaffected by changes in the timeline, because you're outside the timeline."

"So when we erased the pistachions from existence, one of them was still in the time stream. He wasn't erased." Dakota grimaced. "I guess he must have fallen out of the time stream and continued on with his plans for world domination." Dakota closed his eyes and leaned forward, his hands in his hair and elbows on his knees. "This is all my fault."

What Dakota said, it sounded right to Cavendish at first. Dakota had been the one to knock that pistachion into the timestream, and he'd been the one responsible for the initial pistachion incident. Dakota felt guilty for what he had done, as well he should because he was responsible, except...except that wasn't quite everything there was to it. Dakota may be responsible, but it didn't feel fair to say that he was completely at fault.

As annoyed and upset as Cavendish was about the whole pistachion thing, he had to admit that Dakota hadn't had any ill intent. Dakota had carefully thought through his plan through. It hadn't been a great plan, but it wasn't a spontaneous spur of the moment one. The pistachion incident had been the result of a poor decision. What had happened on the movie set was because Dakota had done something that was a good decision at the time, but it had horrible consequences that he hadn't been able to predict. They were both bad, and Dakota was at fault both times, but Cavendish didn't think it was fair to judge both situations the same way.

Don't be so hard on yourself," Cavendish said. He was focusing on his driving so he didn't have to see Dakota's surprised expression. He knew that Dakota was confused and upset about just how Cavendish felt about him. The truth was, Cavendish himself wasn't completely sure what his feelings towards Dakota were. All he knew was that he cared about Dakota.

"We just have to get back to Milo's time." Cavendish said before Milo or Dakota could question him. "Then we can figure out just what happened, and what should be done about it." One thing that Cavendish knew for sure was that they couldn't leave the pistachions disguised as humans in the past. If these pistachions were just as interested in ruling the world as the original ones had, they had to be taken care of sooner rather than later. "We don't know what the pistachions were up to, so I advise that we keep our eyes out for trouble. If you see any sign of suspicious activity avoid it until we can figure out what to do."

"Is there a way to help Milo and Dakota?" Orton asked, sounding very concerned. "They don't look too well."

Cavendish looked into the rearview mirror. Dakota had taken his glasses off and was resting, his eyes closed. Milo was rubbing his head again. They were doing better than they had before, but Cavendish didn't think that either of them were in any state to face potential trouble.

Cavendish frowned. If he remembered correctly, Milo and Dakota would recover if given time, but that was something Cavendish didn't think they had a lot of. Yes, Milo's time period may be safe, but it may also be even more dangerous, depending on just what the pistachions had planned. They had to be prepared for anything, which meant that they didn't have the time to wait for them to get better.

Cavendish thought for a moment. He knew how to ease Milo's pain, by essentially getting between the connection that he had with Dakota. Finish the job that the pistachions had started. In doing so though, Dakota would have to essentially be in sleep mood, and Cavendish didn't want that either. They would need all hands on deck.

Cavendish wanted to help Milo, but how could he do that without getting between Dakota's connection to his host?

Though Cavendish was running the question through his head, he already knew the answer. He had his reservations and cautions about going through with it, but it was the only thing he could think of. He was nervous about it, but Cavendish already knew that he'd made his decision. He was worried, but he had to help Milo and Dakota.

And Cavendish hoped that going through with this would show Dakota that he really was willing to give him another chance. He was willing to give _them_ another chance.

They came out of the timestream soon enough. The street they were in was empty. Cavendish was paranoid and worried about it, but he couldn't foworry about that at the moment. He had to find a convenience store before he could worry about anything else.

Cavendish soon spotted just what he was looking for. He got out of the car, with the others following his lead. "I must pick something up really quickly. You two," Cavendish looked at Dakota and Milo. "Don't let Orton wander off." This wasn't his time period. They couldn't let him get lost. Cavendish then turned to Orton. "As for you, keep an eye on them. Don't let them get themselves hurt."

Dakota opened his eyes and gave Cavendish an odd look. "What are you up to?"

"You'll know in a moment," Cavendish promised. He didn't want to share his plan with the others. He was worried that anything they said would just cause him to change his mind. He was usually more careful and calculating than this. It wasn't like him to make such a quick, potentially dangerous design. Anything, even encouragement, would probably cause him to change his mind.

Cavendish walked into the convenience store and frowned when he saw that nobody was in there, not even any workers. Something was definitely wrong here. They all needed to be aware and prepared for potential pistachion trouble.

Cavendish headed towards the back of the convenience store, where soft drinks and unhealthy snacks were. This was the part of convenience stores that Cavendish tried to avoid. He wasn't too fond of overly sweet food. He was here for a reason though, not to get a snack. Cavendish was looking for a specific soda.

Cavendish's gaze immediately fell upon what he was looking for. A soda that wasn't common in the future, but was fortunately very popular in this time period. Cavendish grabbed a single bottle. He glanced around him, just to confirm that there was, indeed, nobody there, before he twisted the cap, opening it. He could hear the fizzling of the carbonation, and it sounded like the loudest thing in the world.

Cavendish looked at the soda cautiously. He knew exactly what he was walking into with this, but was it what he truly wanted? At the moment, yes, it was. Before he could begin to talk himself out of it, Cavendish closed his eyes and brought the soda to his mouth. He flinched when he felt the carbonation in his throat. The couldn't understand how people could enjoy drinking these things.

Cavendish was sure that just a single swallow was enough to achieve what he wanted, as it had been enough before. When he didn't feel anything at first he was worried that it hadn't worked. He was about to think about just what he should do from here when he felt a sudden surge of pain in his head, like a shock.

Cavendish had never been so happy to be shocked in his life. It had worked, it had actually worked! Cavneish's relief that this had worked was the one thing that told him that he had made the right decision here. He didn't feel nervous or anxious at all.

Cavendish heard the quiet tingling of a bell. "Cav!" Dakota's shout was loud and slightly nervous. Cavendish felt a small tickling feeling in his mind. He had almost forgotten what it was like to be able to feel when Dakota was particularly emotional. Cavendish calmly walked to the front of the store to find Dakota staring at him in shock.

"You...you actually," Dakota looked at the bottle of soda still in Cavendish's hands. Dakota's eyes sparked and Cavendish felt a pang in his chest that had nothing to do with the now reactivated Squip in his head. He had never seen Dakota look so vulnerable and human, not even when he'd shut him off. "Why would you…?"

"You can now loosen your connection with Milo and still be able to function," Cavendish said matter of factly. "He won't have to wait for the headache to pass,"

Dakota looked relieved, though still incredibly confused. "You know, there were other ways to do that."

"Oh, I know," Cavendish said. "But I...I wanted to do this. I wanted to show you that I truly am willing to give you another chance."

Dakota frowned slightly. He seemed somewhat nervous. It seemed that Cavendish wasn't the only one who was somewhat unsure about giving their relationship another try. Cavendish didn't know if he could trust Dakota to not destroy the world, whether accidentally or on purpose. And Dakota, he didn't know if he could trust Cavendish to not try to shut him down again.

"I...are you sure about this?" Dakota asked.

"No, I'm not," Cavendish admitted. He wasn't sure about how well this would work. He had no idea what the end result would be. "But I'm sure that I want to give it a try." And he was. There was no doubt about that.

Dakota blinked, but a slow smile crept onto his face. "Yeah, I think I want to give this another shot too.""

Cavendish was relieved. He wouldn't know what he would have done if Dakota had been too hurt and scared to give him another chance. "That's good. Now," Cavendish cleared his throat and straightened. "We should probably return to Murphy and Orton before they get themselves into any trouble."

Dakota's eyes flashed with concern. "You really think those nut jobber creeps are still a problem?"

"I think it would be a mistake to assume that everything is alright," Cavendish said. "I don't know what to expect, so I think it would be best if we simply expect the worst."

"That's probably smart," Dakota said. He looked much more serious than Cavendish was used to from Dakota. A part of him was glad that Dakota was taking this whole thing seriously. It showed Cavendish that he wasn't just paranoid. Another part of him wasn't too happy about it. He missed Dakota's childish, somewhat inappropriate behavior. Cavendish just wanted things to go back to normal.

With the threat of pistachions back though, normal would have to wait a little bit.

* * *

 **A/N:** **I wasn't really sure what to have Cavendish call Orton. He would probably call him by his last name, but for some reason I didn't really feel like going in that direction, so he's just going to call him Orton.**

 **Also, Cavendish is having a chance to show some redemption here. It's been awhile since I've shown Cavendish as being a guy who actually does genuinely care about people. I've kinda missed it. If you feel like he and Dakota made up far too quickly, oh, don't worry, their relationship is still extremely rocky (just wait for this story's interpretation of the events of season 2).**


	16. Chapter 16

Milo frowned as he looked out the car window towards the store that Cavendish and Dakota had gone into. He hadn't thought a lot about it when Cavendish had gone in, but a minute later Dakota's eyes had gone wide and he looked towards the store like he was looking at a ghost. Dakota had said something about Cavendish and being right back before he'd run into the convenience store.

Now Milo, not sure what else to do, was just sitting in the car, anxiously waiting for his friends to come back out. Orton on the other hand kept an eye out for possible danger, or even just anybody on the street. Milo was a little worried about the fact that there wasn't anybody else around, and he was worried about the return of the pistachions, but with the vague numb electricity in his head Milo had a hard time focusing on anything that wasn't Dakota.

And he was worried around leaving Dakota alone with Cavendish. The last time they'd been truly alone, Cavendish had tried to get rid of Dakota. Milo didn't want a repeat. He was only waiting for a minute or two, but if felt like much longer. Milo was almost ready to go in after them when he saw Cavendish and Dakota come out. They both looked a little confused and awkward, but content so Milo allowed himself to relax slightly.

Orton didn't understand what Milo's nervousness had been around, so ho he wasn't nearly as relieved.

"You're back," Milo grinned when Cavendish got back in the car. Dakota stayed outside, looking a little awkward, but he gave Milo a small, reassuring smile.

"You've gotta stop doubting me, kid," Dakota teased slightly. Cavendish cleared his throat and looked at Dakota sharply, but not unkindly. Dakota sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Alright, fine. "Hey Milo, I've gotta talk to you,"

The concern that Milo had felt while Dakota and Cavendish were in the show returned stronger than before. "Is something wrong?"

"What? No, nothing's wrong," Dakota assured him. "Just...different, I guess."

Different, that was something that Milo could deal with. He smiled slightly and got out to join Dakota. Once he was out, Dakota looked to Cavendish. "Me and Milo are going to walk around the block to see if anybody else is around. Why don't you see if you can get the car started? I'm worried that I wasn't all that careful when I hacked into the car's systems, and it might have a hard time working right."

Cavendish nodded. "Keep us informed should anything happen,"

Dakota grinned and gestured to his head. "If we run into anything, you'll be the first to know." Dakota put his hands in his pockets and began walking, gesturing for Milo to follow him. Dakota seemed really comfortable and almost happy. Milo hadn't seen Dakota this relaxed since he was with Cavendish. After the whole pistachio incident and the mess that came after it, Dakota always seemed worried that something would happen to him, that at any given second Milo would decide that it just wasn't worth it to have Dakota as a partner and try to get rid of him.

"Did things go well with Cavendish?" Milo asked, though he was fairly confident that it had. Milo was happy for his friends. He knew that they wanted to be friends again, but they both had a hard time trusting each other. Maybe they'd finally talked things through.

Dakota grinned. "Yeah, it actually did. Better than I could ever hope." His smile dimmed slightly as he looked at Milo in concern. "How's your head feel?"

Milo didn't want to worry Dakota, but he couldn't really hide things from him. Dakota was connected to his head, he would be able to tell, so Milo to tell him at least _part_ of the truth. "It feels a little numb and tickly, like when your foot falls asleep," It was only after Milo had said this did he realize that it wasn't exactly a feeling that Dakota could relate to, but the Squip nodded his understanding anyways. "But I'm fine."

"Are you having a hard time focusing?" Dakota asked. Milo grimaced slightly and nodded.

"I can't stop worrying about you," Milo admitted.

"That's because the Squip still thinks it's in danger," Dakota said. "It's...I mean, _I'm_ subconsciously getting you to worry about me because of it." Milo didn't fail to notice that Dakota had separated himself from the Squip, even though he _was_ the Squip. Did Dakota think of himself as something different from the supercomputer?

"How long will it last for?" Milo asked. It wasn't that he didn't want to worry about Dakota, but he didn't want to feel so numbingly anxious because of it.

"It's usually a few hours," Dakota said. "But that's for a normal Squip, and, you know, I'm not really a normal Squip, so for all I know it could be awhile."

Milo couldn't help but flinch, which made Dakota grimace. Milo felt bad for worrying his friend. It wasn't like Dakota was trying to make him feel like this.

"You know, I may have a solution," Dakota said somewhat cautiously. "I'm able to basically block our connection." Milo felt his chest tighten anxiously. He opened his mouth to say something, but Dakota interrupted him before he could. "Just hear me out. It's not the same as shutting off the Squip. I know you're not going to do that." Dakota gave Milo a small smile. "But it would be like me going into sleep mode. It may help the Squip to calm doon quicker, and you wouldn't feel it bugging you."

"But, what would happen to you?" Milo frowned slightly in concern. "If the Squip is asleep, wouldn't that mean that you wouldn't be able to do anything?"

Normally, yes," Dakota admitted. "But, see, Cavendish thought of that." That content grin came to Dakota's face again. "He...ah, man Milo, I can barely believe it. You know what he did in that store? He got that soda that activates the Squip, and he drank it."

Milo blinked. "He...you two are connected again?" Dakota nodded and Milo grinned broadly. "That's great!" He had hoped that the two of them would make up, but this was more than Milo had expected, especially so soon. "And you're both okay with it?"

"As okay as we can be right now," Dakota said. "Because I'm connected to Cavendish again, I can lean more onto his connection while _our_ connection can rest for a bit."

"But our connection will come back, right?" Milo asked. He knew that Dakota didn't need him as his host or partner anymore, but Milo had gotten used to their connection. He really liked it. He didn't want to lose this connection between them.

Dakota laughed slightly and ruffled Milo's hair. "If you want, I would love to keep our connection."

Milo grinned, relieved. It was nice to know that even if he may not be needed, he was definitely wanted. It felt really nice.

"I can disconnect whenever you're ready," Dakota said. Milo took a deep breath.

"I'm ready," He was slightly nervous, but he could do this. Milo trusted Dakota. The Squip smirked slightly, his eyes sparked slightly from behind his glasses, and a moment later Milo's head cleared so suddenly it was as though it had never been bothering him in the first place. It was almost unnerving how quickly he felt okay. "Wow, that feels a lot better."

Dakota grinned. "Glad to hear it," Dakota's grin slipped as he looked around slightly. "So...have you seen any normal people?"

"Uh," Milo frowned as he realized that Dakota was right. They were in the middle of town, but there wasn't anybody else out. Something weird was going on. "Where did everybody go?"

"I'm not sure," Dakota frowned slightly, a determined look in his eyes. "Watch my back for a minute. I'm going to look into the city's traffic cams to where everybody went, and see if I can find a safe place to go." Milo nodded. He knew that Dakota could normally look through his database at the same time as doing something else. He was great at multitasking like that, but when Dakota really needed to learn something, he had to focus his energies entirely on that.

Milo looked around, keeping an eye out for any sign of danger. Dakota was trusting him to be aware enough of their surroundings for the both of them. Dakota was searching for a long time, but Milo did his best to not get impatient. He knew that Dakota was just trying to be as thorough as they could. They didn't know what was going on. If there was danger, they wanted to know about it long before they walked right into it.

It took a few minutes, but eventually Dakota opened his eyes. He didn't look happy. "Yeah, we definitely shouldn't have just left the pistachions back in the past. They'd started to disguise themselves as humans, and now they've been doing that for more than fifty years."

Milo's eyes widened. "So there are pistachions pretending to be humans?"

Dakota shrugged. "Yeah, but I think that was phase one. From what I saw, they're mostly focused on capturing humans and trying to put together some master plan."

If Dakota had seen it, he had to know where they were. "How many people are captured? Where are they?"

Dakota gestured around, "They're at Lard World, and it looks like basically the whole town is there."

That was a lot of people. Milo's stomach clenched as he realized just what that meant. "What about my friends?" He fidgeted with his shirt anxiously. "My family?"

Dakota frowned and his eyes seemed to go blank for a moment as he returned to his searching. After just a moment he seemed to come back to awareness. "Yeah, they're there." Before Milo could even open his mouth to ask if they were hurt or anything like that, Dakota continued. "They're fine though. Captured, but unharmed." Dakota had tried to reassure Milo and make him feel better, but it didn't do a lot to help him feel better.

"We-we have to help them!" Milo made a move towards Lard World, but Dakota grabbed his arm before he could take more than two steps.

"Hang on, Milo, it's too dangerous," Dakota said. He said it gently, but Milo wasn't in a good mindset of being comforted.

"I don't care!" Milo tried to pull away from Dakota, but for someone that wasn't human, his grip was like iron. "I can't just sit back and worry about myself. I have to help my family and everyone else." Dakota didn't seem completely convinced. He began to say something, probably to argue with him more, but Milo didn't give him the chance. "I can't just abandon them. I'm not heartless like…" Milo's eyes widened and he shut his mouth, but the damage was done.

Dakota blinked, his eyes sparking. He was silent for a moment before he found his voice. "...heartless? Is that really what you think of me?"

"I...n-no," Milo said quietly. He could feel a small electric shock where Dakota held his arm, but he didn't complain or say anything. He didn't dare. "You're not...Dakota, I didn't mean it like that,"

Dakota closed his eyes and took a deep breath. A moment later Milo felt the shock ease, though it still tingled. "Milo, this isn't just because I'm worried about you, okay? If you go to try to help your friends, you might be able to save them, or you might just be caught yourself, and then who will help them?"

"B-but-" Milo wanted to argue, but he couldn't. Dakota was right, he knew he was, but it hurt. "So we're just supposed to run?"

"Not run," Dakota corrected. "Regroup. We need to figure out what to do from here. There are way too many pistachions to hope to take them on. Our best bet is to strike them when there's just a couple of them,"

"Like back in the past," Milo's eyes widened in realization. "Before they had built up so much of an army." Milo didn't know how many of them there were, but if Dakota was worried about the pistachions, then there had to be more than just a dozen.

Dakota nodded and released his grip on Milo's arm, now that he was no longer worried about him running off. "We've just got to figure out how to get to the past,"

Milo frowned slightly. That part seemed easy to him. "Why don't we just take the car?"

Dakota grimaced and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well…"

"Murphy!" Milo jumped slightly, not expecting to hear anybody. "Dakota!" The two of them turned to see Cavendish and Orton running towards them. They both looked somewhat panicked.

"Cavendish," Milo was worried about how nervous they seemed. "Did something happen?"

"He's just worried about the whole pistachion thing," Dakota said. "I basically transferred the information to him, so he's all caught up." Well, that was good. "He also sent information to me, so I know that he wasn't able to get the car to work."

"What!" Milo looked from Cavendish to Dakota. "But we need to get to the past! What are we supposed to do?"

"Are there no other time travelers in the future?" Orton asked. Milo noticed that at least for now, he'd put that notebook of his away. He was focused completely on them and the problem at hand. Milo hoped that Orton was just as creative at coming up with real life solutions as he was at thinking of how to get Doctor Zone out of trouble.

Dakota shook his head. "The only other time travelers in this time period were captured, and the pistachions aren't stupid enough to leave their time vehicle alone. We'll have to find another way."

Milo was thinking desperately about what they could do. "Is there anyone else we can ask for help? Maybe if we can't go back to when there were fewer pistachions, we can find enough people to even out the odds."

"Considering I saw hundreds of pistachions, I don't think we'll find nearly enough help." Dakota said.

"But perhaps…" Cavendish trailed off, a thoughtful expression on his face. Dakota was watching Cavendish, a strange look in his eyes. "Perhaps it's not about quantity, but quality."

"Are there some extremely capable individuals in this time period?" Orton asked. He didn't know what was going on, but he was still trying to help, and Milo really appreciated it. Orton wasn't just a great actor and show creator, he was a nice person too.

"Oh, there are a couple," Dakota chuckled. "A couple of them are really young, but right now I don't think keeping kids safe should be our main priority. Not when they can help us."

"There's also Professor Time," Cavendish said. Milo looked at him with wide eyes. "Professor Time lives in this time period?!"

"Who is Professor Time?" Orton asked.

"He invented time travel." Cavendish said. Dakota fidgeted slightly and Cavendish cleared his throat. "Alright, he wasn't the _first_ to invent time travel, but he _is_ the one who made it popular and truly understood the principles behind time travel."

"But he's not supposed to figure out time travel for another twelve years," Dakota said with a small frown. Cavendish gave him a sharp look.

"Do you honestly think that _now_ is a good time to try to maintain the rules of time travel?" Cavendish asked. Dakota looked really conflicted for a moment, but also somewhat sheepish.

"Yeah, you're right," Dakota said.

"Where is this Professor Time?" Orton asked.

Milo frowned as a terrifying thought came to his mind. "He hasn't been captured yet, has he?" Milo didn't know what they would do if Professor Time was in the hands of the pistachions.

Dakota thought for a moment. "Not yet, no," Dakota said. "But it's only a matter of time. If we want his help, we're going to have to get there pretty fast, without being noticed by the pistachions."

Milo blinked. If they were on the street, the pistachions could potentially see them, but there were only so many other ways that a person could travel other than on roads. Fortunately for them, Milo was actually incredibly familiar with another path. "We can go through the sewers. The pistachions probably won't find us there.

Dakota grinned. "Yeah, they probably won't. That's not a bad plan, kid," Dakota looked around, just to make sure there was nobody around. "We'd better get going." Milo still felt weird about not immediately heading off to help his friends and family, but Dakota was right. They weren't running away, they were making a plan and being smart about this.

Milo wasn't abandoning his family, he was just making sure that they'd be able to actually save them, and to do that, they needed help. Milo just hoped that Professor Time would be able to help them.

* * *

 **A/N:** **It is super weird to write about the events of Milo Murphy's Law, but in an AU. It's hard to find a balance between the canon of the show, and the original stuff for the story. I think I'm doing okay though.  
**

 **Next chapter, we get Doof in here, which I'm looking forward to, because I really like Doof and Dakota's relationship in the show, and I already know just what I'm going to be doing with it in the context of this story .**


	17. Chapter 17

With Milo leading the way it wasn't long before they got to Professor Time's address. As they went, Dakota kept half of his attention on what was in front of them, and half his focus on any video footage he could find around the city. He didn't want them to be caught off guard by a surprise pistachion ambush. As much as he could, Dakota wanted to be prepared.

As soon as they got to the building's underground parking lot, Dakota eased up on keeping an eye out for pistachions. They should still be ready for any unexpected pistachion appearances, but there was a more immediate concern that Dakota was thinking about.

Professor Time, although in this time period he still went by the name of Heinz Doofenshmirtz, was a man who enjoyed his privacy, and who liked to be in control of situations. Because of this, Doofenshmirtz would frequently set up traps, mostly for his nemesis, but also for anybody who just so happened to walk by.

As they stepped off of the elevator, Dakota was glad for the fact that Doofenshmirtz relied so much on technology, both of his own invention, and more traditional tech. It was all too easy for Dakota to hack into Doofenshmirtz' systems, even with the firewalls and security systems set into place. Dakota might have struggled a little more if it weren't for the fact that Doofenshmirtz was the founder of the B.o.T.T, and a lot of the security systems that the B.o.T.T. used came from him. Dakota was as familiar with these systems as he was with the back of Milo and Cavendish's minds.

Dakota was immediately able to see that Doofenshmirtz did, indeed, have traps in place. There weren't as much as there normally would be, as Doofenshmirtz had recently quit the whole evil business, but there were still traps, and they didn't have the time to deal with them.

"Wait," Dakota said before they could go too far in. He grabbed Milo's arm and held him back. Cavendish could feel the urgency in his tone, so despite his excitement of meeting Professor Time himself, he stopped as well. Orton was the only one who kept going. He only took five steps before he activated one of the traps.

At an instant's notice, Dakota cut off the triggering system of the trap and the trap itself. Dakota was sure that the trap wasn't harmful, as even when Doofenshmirtz was evil he had no record of actually being cruel, but all of Dakota's files said that when Doofenshmirtz successully trapped someone, they monologued to them. Dakota thought it was good for him to have found a way to get things off his chest, but during a pistachion invasion was not the time to do that.

A moment later, Doofenshmirtz began to come out the door. When he saw them, he blinked in confusion and crossed his arms. "I thought my pizza delivery guy trap went off, and...wait, you're not the pizza delivery guy, are you?" Doofenshmirtz gave them a suspicious look, like he expected Milo to pull a box of pizza out from his backpack.

"Uh, no, Professor Time, sir," Cavendish said. He still sounded in awe, but he was also very confused. He idolized Professor Time, and even though they'd just met him Cavendish could tell that he was different from how he had expected. It usually took Cavendish a lot of time to adjust to his opinion and view being proven wrong.

Cavendish was so flustered, so Dakota took it upon himself to take on the explaining. "We're time travelers from the future. Well, _we're_ from the future," He gestured to himself and Cavendish. "He's from the past and just got dragged into this," He pointed to Orton. "And Milo's just from this time period."

Doofenshmirtz' didn't seem confused, but still incredibly suspicious. "...What do you want?"

He wasn't immediately dismissing them, so Dakota considered that a win. "There are sentient pistachio monsters that are taking over the city." Dakota's eyes flashed as he slipped back into Doofenshmirtz' systems. He turned on the man's television and radio in the other room. All of the news channels were talking about the pistachions. Even from the hall, they could hear the reports.

Doofenshmirtz glanced back into the other room. He looked alarmed. "How did those turn on?"

Dakota smirked in amusement. Maybe he should be more worried about the urgency of the situation, but Doofenshmirtz' curiosity about electronics and technology was fascinating. "The same way that I deactivated your trap." Dakota took his glasses off and let his eyes flash. Doofenshmirtz' own eyes practically lit up in excitement.

"Interesting," Doofenshmirtz muttered under his breath. He came closer to Dakota and poked his arm. "How far into the future did you say you were from?"

"2175," Dakota answered. Doofenshmirtz nodded, like it was something along the lines that he had expected.

"You sure feel and look human," Doofenshmirtz took a step back. "You're not an android or a robot, are you?"

"Not quite," Dakota said. "I'm a supercomputer programmed into Cavendish's brain," He gestured to his partner, who was starting to look frustrated. "Oh, and Milo's brain."

"So you overpowered my security," Doofenshmirtz seemed to be more impressed than upset. "Alright, so say you're a computer. Why do you feel so human?"

Cavendish huffed slightly. "We don't have time to discuss Dakota's programming. There are pistachions out there in the city even as we speak."

"Right, yeah, evil pistachios," Doofenshmirtz waved it aside like the whole issue was of secondary concern. "And why do you need _my_ help."

"Because you're Professor Time," Cavendish shouted half in enthusiasm and half in frustration. "You're the inventor of time travel," Dakota made a small hum, and Cavendish shot him an annoyed look. "Yes, yes, alright, the _researcher_ of time travel, but regardless, we need to go back in time to before this whole mess started, so we need you to invent a time machine."

Doofenshmirtz stared at Cavendish for a moment before turning back to Dakota. "So...do you just _look_ human, or do you act and think like one too?" Cavendish let out a strangled sound of frustration. Dakota felt slightly bad for finding Cavendish's anger a little amusing. He knew that Cavendish had a point, that they needed to get out of here and fix the problem before it came and bit them in the butt.

"Tell you what," Dakota came up with a compromise. "When we don't have to worry about pistachions anymore, I'll answer any questions you have about my programs and functions." It was a nice change of pace to have someone who was so curious about him just on a technological standpoint. Doofenshmirtz wasn't like Cavendish or even Milo, who wanted to know how human and moral he was, or Savannah and other B.o.T.T. agents who wanted him to behave more like a traditional Squip. Doofenshmirtz was just a scientist who wanted to know how this new bit of technology worked.

"Fair enough," Doofenshmirtz shrugged. "So, let's get this time travel figured out," Maybe it wasn't all that realistic to ask someone to just create a time machine, but if B.o.T.T's records on Professor Time listed even a fraction of the scientist's inventions, then Dakota thought they had nothing to worry about. If anyone could figure out, it was Heinz Doofenshmirtz.

Cavendish and Orton were eager to follow Doofenshmirtz. They were both interested to see his working process. Milo stayed close to Dakota's side, and he looked extremely confused about something.

"What's on your mind, kid?" Dakota asked. His connection with Milo may be cut off at the moment, but Dakota still cared about Milo's thoughts and concerns.

"I'm just...a little confused," Milo looked at Dakota. "Did you choose what your voice sounded like?"

Looking towards where Doofenshmirtz was muttering to himself and already piecing together some mechanics, Dakota chuckled. He knew what Milo was thinking. "Yeah, I did, and before you ask, yes, I meant to have my voice sound like a lot like Doofenshmirtz'."

"Why?" Milo asked. "Did you just not know what else to do?"

"Honestly, it was my subtle way to get Cavendish to listen to me a little better," Dakota grinned. "He practically idolizes Professor Time."

Milo laughed slightly. "Yeah, Cavendish is a little passionate right now,"

"Intense is the word that I would use," Dakota smirked, making Milo giggle again.

"Oi, Murphy, Dakota," They looked towards the others to see Cavendish looking at them. He looked annoyed, but Dakota could tell that it wasn't just because he was caught off guard by Doofenshmirtz' behavior. Something else was on his mind, but Dakota knew he wouldn't have to read into it, because Cavendish frequently spoke his mind. "I think we have a problem."

Milo frowned in concern while Dakota just groaned in annoyance. He was tired of them frequently having problems. This wasn't even because of Murphy's Law. This was just a combination of all of their bad luck.

"What's going on?" Milo asked.

Cavendish fidgeted nervously with his hands. "Time juice hasn't been discovered yet."

Dakota frowned. Right, he _knew_ that. He should have remembered it. How could he have forgotten?

"What's time juice?" Milo asked.

"It's an element on the periodic table that makes time travel possible," Dakota said with a grimace. "We can't go anywhere without it,"

"Well, can't we just discover it?" Milo asked. Up to this point Doofenshmirtz had been talking to Orton, but at Milo's words he scoffed and came to join them.

"Okay, it's one thing to ask someone to invent a time machine years before they normally would," Doofenshmirtz gave them an annoyed look. "But to discover a whole new element on the spot? I'm a scientist, not a miracle worker."

Milo bit his lip slightly. "What are we supposed to do?"

Dakota closed his eyes. There had to be a solution. Dakota refused to admit that there wasn't. If time juice hasn't been discovered yet, then they would have to find a time juice source from the future. What was time juice used for? It powered time travel machines, but Dakota doubted that their time vehicle was safe now. The pistachions had to have found it by now. The only other time travelers were Brick and Savannah, and Dakota knew that they had been captured. Time vehicles weren't the way to go right now.

The only other thing that Dakota knew of that had time juice were clocks from the future, but there was no way they could get their hands on a clock from the future, except...wait…

Dakota opened his eyes. "Milo, you still have that clock I gave you from the time stream?"

"Of course," Cavendish's eyes widened in realization. "The clock was from the future. It should have time juice in it."

"I, uh, don't think I have it on me right now," Milo took off his backpack and looked in it really quickly. "Nope, it's probably in my bedroom." Milo put his backpack on. "If we need it, I can just go grab it really quickly."

"What? No," Dakota's eyes flashed. "It's too dangerous. The pistachions are out there. You can't just run off on your own,"

"The more people who are out there, the more people that could get in trouble," Milo said. "If it's just me, I don't have to worry about anyone else." As much as Dakota hated it, he could see what Milo was saying. Dakota had a lot of frustration with getting Milo to think just about himself. Milo had gotten hurt because he couldn't bring himself to worry about himself if someone else needed help. If he was on his own and had a specific place he needed to go, Dakota knew that Milo could dedicate all of his resources and focus on himself.

Logically, it was a smart plan, but it didn't _feel_ right. Dakota was a Squip, a computer, he should be jumping at the chance to follow Milo's plan. It was a good plan, but Dakota didn't want to go through with it. His artificial emotions were overcoming his logic, and it sucked.

Cavendish was not feeling the same conflicts that Milo was. "That is a great plan, Murphy," Cavendish raised an impressed eyebrow. "While you're gone, we can help Professor Time to build the time machine."

Cavendish and Milo were both incredibly calm about discussing how to stop the pistachions. Dakota was too high strung to be on the same level as they were. "Let me come with you," Dakota said to Milo. "I can help."

"Don't be daft," Cavendish gave Dakota a confused look. "If you and Milo were properly connected, maybe you'd be able to help him enough, but as it is you would be much more useful here. You can access time machine blueprints. There is no reason for you to not stay here."

Dakota could think of one very good reason why he should go with Milo. He'd endangered the boy with this stupid pistachio scheme once, he didn't want to do it again. If anything happened to Milo, it would be all his fault. Especially if Dakota wasn't there to at least _try_ to stop it. "What if I turn on the connection again? It might be working."

Cavendish looked even more confused, but in a concerned kind of way. Dakota could practically feel Cavendish's concern coming right through their link. "It takes hours for the two of you to recover from what happened."

"Well, yeah, but-" Dakota was feeling desperate. He paused when he felt Milo's hand on his arm.

"Dakota," Milo gave him a small smile. "I'll be okay, I promise,"

"You can't promise that," Dakota could feel himself sparking, and he felt even worse when he saw both Cavendish and Milo flinch in discomfort and slight pain because of him. Cavendish could feel Dakota's lack of control through their connection, and Milo could feel the spark because of the physical contact. Dakota was hurting them, he knew he was, but he couldn't seem to make himself _stop_.

At that moment a small teal thing came crashing through the window. "Ah, Perry the Platypus," Doofenshmirtz smiled amicably at the intruder who was, indeed, a platypus. "Now, I don't know exactly what's going on out there, but it's not my fault this time,"

"It's mine," Dakota pushed his glasses up and squeezed his hands against his eyes in a vain attempt to get them to stop sparking. "If I hadn't-"

"Well, you did," Dakota looked up in surprise to see Doofenshmirtz looking annoyed, but not unkind. "So you messed up and now the world's in danger? Who hasn't done that?" Dakota was fairly certain that very, _very_ few people had done that, but Doofenshmirtz wasn't about to let that little fact stop him from making his point. "You can't just go back and change what happened...well, I guess you can, since you're a time traveler, but that's not the point."

Doofenshmirtz shook his head to try to get himself on focus again. "The point is, you're not doing anybody any good wallowing in the past, wishing that things could be different. If you want to change things, get up and change them yourself,"

For the first time since they got there, Cavendish looked at Doofenshmirtz as though he truly was the Professor Time that he had come to admire. After a moment, Cavendish turned his attention to Dakota. "He's right, of course, and the best way you can change things is by _staying here."_ Cavendish's tone was firm, but still gentle and understanding.

"I know," Dakota all but whined, and he really did. He knew that they were right. "But what if something happens while Milo's on his own?"

"He won't be on his own," Doofenshmirtz said as though it was obvious. The man looked towards Perry the Platypus, who was watching them all cautiously. "Perry the Platypus, can you go with Milo?"

Perry had no way of knowing where Milo was going, or what kind of trouble he would be getting into by joining him, but when Perry looked at the boy he just nodded without a moment's hesitation.

"You...you're sure?" Dakota asked Perry, who nodded again. Dakota was relieved. In all the biographies and databases about Doofenshmirtz, they mentioned Perry the Platypus, and how he was one of O.W.C.A's very best agents. Perry the Platypus was known for being very capable, and very _very_ protective. If anybody could not only keep an eye on Milo, but also keep an eye on themselves enough to not become a liability when Murphy's law hit, it was Perry the Platypus.

Dakota grinned uneasily. It was incredible just how relieving it was to know that a platypus was going to be keeping an eye on Milo. "Thank you,"

"The two of you had better get a move on then," Cavendish said to Milo and Perry. "We shouldn't waste any more time."

"Right," Milo gave Dakota one last reassuring grin. "We'll be back soon,"

"We'll try to be ready by the time you return," Cavendish said. Dakota thought that was a pretty unrealistic goal, but Doofenshmirtz really was a genius with his inventions. They may blow up in his face sometimes, but they worked as they should, and he could make them pretty quickly. They may just be able to do this.

Once Milo and Perry were gone, Doofenshmirtz turned to them. "Right..let's build a time machine."

* * *

 **A/N:** **Doofenshmirtz is a bit of a challenge to write. It's kinda fun though. Now I just have to figure out how to do a little more with Orton so he's not just a guy who's there.**


	18. Chapter 18

Running around with Cavendish and Dakota, Orton had been able to find a lot of inspiration for his show. He couldn't wait to get back to his own time period and get to work. The world was at stake now, so he'd been trying to put his curiosity and inspiration on hold. He may not be able to do an awful lot to help take on the pistachions, as he wasn't a fighter or an experienced time traveler, but he'd been trying to hold himself back at least to not distract his new friends.

When they went to enlist the help of a man named Professor Time, or Heinz Doofenshmirtz, Orton had a hard time holding on to his restraint. The man was a scientist, an inventor, and a person with a very interesting personality. After being at his home for only five minutes, Orton didn't think he'd be able to keep himself from asking questions. There were so many strange inventions with odd names hanging around. Orton desperately wanted to have the chance to pick at Doofenshmirtz' brain, even if just for a few minutes. Orton thought he'd be able to get a lot of ideas for his show from this man. Doofenshmirtz' home looked like a place where science fiction came to life.

Orton couldn't ask as the moment though. Doofenshmirtz was busy as work building a time machine, and they couldn't really afford distractions. Orton couldn't even question Cavendish and Dakota, because the two of them were helping him. Dakota was using his supercomputerness to get access to blueprints and instructions to make a time machine. Cavendish apparently wasn't much of an inventor, but he was dashing all over the lab, grabbing every little thing that Doofenshmirtz requested, including a couple of snacks.

Not wanting to get in the way, but feeling the need to do something productive, Orton went out onto the balcony and looked out over the city. He could see a lot from up here. Maybe not little details, but with nobody on the streets at the moment, he'd be able to tell right away if pistachions were on their way, or if Milo was coming back.

As Orton looked out over the city, he hummed what Milo had said was going to be the theme song to his show. As Orton hummed he pulled out his notebook and began to look over all the notes he'd made so far. He knew he wanted to have time traveling in his show, but he wasn't entirely sure what to do with Dr. Zone's traveling companion. All he knew was that he wanted it to be something weird.

A few minutes later Orton still hadn't gotten anywhere with Dr. Zone's companion. He didn't even know whether he should have one consistent companion, or switch it up every once and awhile. He was almost ready to move on to something else when Dakota stumbled out onto the balcony to join him.

"Any sign of him?" Dakota asked. If Orton didn't already know that Dakota was a computer, he wouldn't have believed it after hearing his tone like this. Dakota sounded very vulnerable and distressed. Orton had met parents who weren't nearly as concerned about their children as Dakota was about Milo.

"I'm afraid not," Orton said apologetically. Dakota groaned and leaned against the railing. "It's only been a few minutes though, hasn't it? Give him time."

"I know," Dakota said. "I just...he shouldn't even be out there. I feel like there should be _something_ that I could have done differently so he wouldn't have ended up in this mess in the first place."

Orton didn't know what to say to that. Maybe there was something that they all could have done differently, but it couldn't be healthy to focus so much on it. Orton didn't think that anybody, not even time travelers, should be so focused on the past.

Orton didn't know how to fix something like this, but one thing that he was really good at was _distracting_ people from their worries and problems. That was why he had gone into television show making in the first place. "Did you ever watch my show?"

Dakota looked confused for a moment before he shook his head. "I can immediately access all the information about your show, but technically, no, I haven't watched it." Orton wasn't even disappointed to hear it. He had heard a lot about his show from Milo, but maybe he shouldn't be told everything. If he was just told exactly what he should make, then could he really claim that Dr. Zone was his show?

"Well, maybe you can help me anyways," Orton said. "I don't know what I should do with Dr. Zone's companion. I figured if I was going to base Dr. Zone off of Cavendish, then you could be the inspiration for his partner."

Dakota didn't seem completely invested in the conversation, as he was busy looking over the balcony for Milo, but he gave Orton a look to show that he was at least listening. Orton continued. "I want there to be something weird about him, but I didn't want to just go with a supercomputer like yourself."

Dakota hummed slightly. "With science fiction, the sky's the limit. You get to make up the rules of your world. If you don't want something to be human, there are a lot of possibilities."

Orton nodded. He was aware of that, but he needed _something_ to go off of. "What's _your_ favorite non-human or computer creature? Real or fictional." A small smile slipped onto Dakota's face. It seemed like distracting him was working, at least a little bit.

"I like animals," Dakota said quietly. "We don't get very many of them in the future. Any animals that aren't extinct are kept away in a secure location so they're not put at risk, so…"

Orton's eyes widened in horror. "You don't have animals?" He hadn't thought a whole lot about animals. He didn't hate them, but he wasn't exactly the biggest fan either. But hearing that animals were practically extinct in the future, it was completely terrifying. "Well, what kind of animals do you like?"

"Uh, all kinds of them," Dakota shrugged. "If you want the animal companion to catch on and be accepted by general audiences, you should probably use either an extremely cute animal, or one that while not human, looks and acts a lot like one."

Orton hummed. He didn't think he wanted something especially cute. It just didn't fit in with his vision. He wasn't the most original person with ideas, so the first humanoid animal that came to his mind was the animal that was most closely related to humans. "What about a monkey, or an ape?"

Dakota grinned. He looked really happy with the idea. "A time traveling ape...you know, I kinda like it." Orton grinned and began to sketch out the ape in his sketchbook. He didn't want it to be completely naked, because it was still a humanoid figure, and it just didn't seem appropriate, but if he had it wearing too many clothes, it would just look like a hairy person instead of an animal. So the ape needed clothes, but definitely not too much. He settled for just a pair of shorts that resembled Dakota's style.

Dakota leaned over and watched as Orton drew. It definitely looked like an ape, but Orton wasn't quite satisfied. It didn't look quite weird enough. It just looked like an ape wearing shorts. "It needs something,"

Dakota looked around the balcony as though for inspiration. A moment later he grinned and went back inside, grabbing a tacky old clock from the wall. Dakota faced Orton and held it up in front of his face. "What about adding something that makes it clear that it's a time traveler?"

"Weird," Orton gave a small laugh as he erased his ape head and began to sketch a clock in its place. "I like it,"

Dakota grinned, but then he suddenly stiffened. He grabbed Orton's hand and pulled him down to the ground. "Pistachions are heading this way."

"What?" Orton lowered his voice. He knew there wasn't that big of a chance that they would be overheard, but it was his instinctive reaction. "How can you tell?"

"I've been keeping an eye on the city's traffic cam system, just in case," Dakota said. Pistachions are just a few blocks away, and coming this way."

"And you think they'll come here?" Orton whispered anxiously. "Do they know we're here?"

"I don't think so," Dakota said. "I think they're here for Doofenshmirtz. If _we_ know he can help us, _they_ might know he can do something to stop them."

"We need to leave," Orton began to crawl away from the balcony. Dakota followed him.

"No, we need to get the time machine finished." Dakota said. "The city's under the pistachion's control. Anywhere we go, they could find us. The best way to get away from them is to retreat into the time stream."

"But I thought we needed time juice," Orton frowned. Dakota scowled.

"We'll have to go get Milo," Dakota said. Orton knew that at least part of his motivation was because he was concerned about the boy being out on the streets, but he did have a good point.

"Do you know where Milo lives?" Orton asked. Dakota nodded. "Then the two of us should head there and meet up with Milo. You can use your sources to help us avoid the pistachions."

Dakota grinned, looking sincerely relieved. "I can do that," Dakota seemed to want nothing more than to feel like he could help Milo. He'd been really upset when Cavendish had suggested that he stay behind because he would be more useful with them than with Milo.

Before they left, they checked in really quickly on how the time machine was gong. "How soon do you think you'll be done?" Dakota asked.

'Shouldn't be long now," Doofenshmirtz said. "We just have some finishing touches and the time juice."

"We're going to go get that now," Dakota said. "We're going to try to be quick. Pistachions are coming this way."

"Pistachions?" Cavendish looked incredibly concerned. Dakota nodded and his eyes flashed. A moment later Cavendish flinched, not necessarily from pain, but from surprise. "Ah, I see where they are."

Orton raised an eyebrow. It seemed as though Dakota had transmitted an image over to Cavendish. Fascinating. Orton made a mental note of it. He hoped he remembered to put it into his notebook when he had the time.

"Does the time machine look okay?" Doofenshmirtz asked before they could leave. Dakota barely glanced in towards it.

"You're a skilled inventor. You have my basic blueprints, and you have your skills." Dakota said. "As long as you don't include a self destruct button, we should be fine,"

Doofenshmirtz huffed unhappily. "I still don't see why I can't have a self destruct button. What if pistachions try to steal the time machine and use it against us? How else are we supposed to stop them?"

"I can hack into and overwhelm the systems," Dakota said impatiently. "But I told you, Murphy's Law won't mix well with a self destruct button," Doofenshmirtz didn't look happy, but he didn't argue more about it. "We'll be back as soon as we can." Dakota said as he grabbed Orton's hand and pulled him towards the exit.

Because Dakota knew exactly where the pistachion threat was, the two of them were just able to rush out of the building towards Milo's house. Orton wasn't used to running with so much urgency. He liked the thought of action and adventure, but he didn't know how to react to real danger. It was a lot different from make-believe adventures that he was completely responsible for creating and had total control over. Orton didn't want to let the world down, so even though he was tired, a little sore, and very scared, he just continued following Dakota.

After about five blocks of running, Orton heard a dog barking. It was the first other living creature he'd heard since they'd arrived in this time period, so even though it wasn't an especially threatening sound, Orton felt scared. He grabbed Dakota's arm and pulled him to a stop. Dakota didn't look even a little concerned. He looked relieved.

"Diogee," Dakota knelt and a moment later a dog came running around the corner, right into Dakota's arms. Dakota laughed as the dog jumped and licked him enthusiastically. "Your owner here with you?"

"Diogee, don't run off like that," Milo came out from where the dog had come. He looked surprised but thrilled to see them. "Dakota, Orton, what are you doing here?"

"Pistachions are on their way," Orton said. "We need to get going."

"I was so worried about you, kid," Dakota stood up and put an arm around Milo's shoulders. "Don't do that again." Dakota had definitely been more worried about Milo's safety than their mission to save the world.

"Sorry," Milo apologized. "I got the clock, though." He pulled away from Dakota and grabbed the clock from his backpack.

"You did great, kiddo," Dakota said as he grabbed the clock from the boy. Milo grinned broadly. He seemed so happy to have Dakota's approval. "Now let's go before the pistachions get to Doofenshmirtz place."

Milo bent down and picked up the dog. "Come on, Diogee. I'm really glad you were at home, for once, but it's not safe there anymore. Stay here with us." Diogee looked ecstatic about this idea. The dog looked like there was nowhere else he would rather be than at his owner's side.

The strange teal platypus that had accompanied Milo made a chattering noise as he gestured to Doofenshmirtz' building in the distance. Orton had never thought that he would ever follow a platypus' lead, but there was a first time for everything.

Perry the Platypus moved ahead of the group, constantly looking back to make sure that they were following, and keeping an eye out for a potential threat. Orton had never thought that animals could actually be secret agents, but seeing Perry the Platypus at work, it was believable.

Things went well for a few minutes, but unexpectedly a tall tree fell from a nearby yard. Dakota and Milo seemed to react as one. Dakota grabbed Orton's arm and pulled him out of the way of the tree. Milo leapt back and tightened his grip on his dog.

"Milo!" Dakota rushed towards the fallen tree, which was covering the entire street. Orton had no idea who thought it would be a good idea to have a tree this massive in the middle of the city. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Milo said. "It was just Murphy's Law. Something was bound to happen sooner or later,"

"It couldn't wait another two minutes?" Dakota growled, his eyes flashing irritably. "That's all we needed!" They were just a few yards from the entrance to Doofenshmirtz' building. They were so close.

"I'm sorry, Dakota," Milo said, sounding truly distressed at upsetting his friend. "I can't control Murphy's Law. It just happens."

Dakota groaned and ran a hand through his hair. "I know kid, I know, just…" Dakota sighed. His eyes flashed again and he looked down a neighboring street in alarm. "We're running out of time. "Milo, can you climb up and over?"

"Uh…" Milo didn't sound so sure. "It's a pine tree. There aren't any branches I can grab on to."

"The pistachions will be here in a minute," Dakota said. "We need to get into the time stream."

Orton looked at the clock in Dakota's hands. If the pistachions truly didn't know they were here, and they were just here for Doofenshmirtz, then maybe Milo could find a place to hide away for just a little bit. "Milo, do you know of anywhere safe you can go?" Dakota turned and gave Orton a look of disbelief.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Milo said. He seemed to understand what Orton was saying. "You guys go and get time traveling. Don't worry about me."

"Wha-Milo!" Dakota moved like he was going to try to climb over the tree himself. "Milo, don't even _think_ about it."

"Sorry, Dakota," Milo said quietly before they could hear the sound of him running in the other direction.

"Milo!" Dakota sounded equally furious and terrified. Orton had to grab his arm to pull him back. They definitely didn't have time for this. They had to go.

"He'll be fine," Orton said, but Dakota wasn't listening. Dakota knew better than Orton did that the pistachions were practically right on top of them, and yet he was more concerned about being separated from Milo. Orton didn't know what to do. He wasn't going to leave Dakota, but he wouldn't be able to get upstairs and get the time machine going in time if Dakota was fighting him every step of the way.

Orton needed Dakota to be able to move, but not have the will to go after Milo. He remembered when they'd been trying to get away from the television studio, when Dakota's programs had been messed with and Cavendish had been pulling him along as they'd escaped. Orton thought it would be helpful if Dakota was like that again, except that the only reason that the supercomputer had been like that was because he'd basically been hurt.

Orton didn't want to hurt Dakota, but right now, he didn't see any other choice.

He grimaced and bent down to his shoe. His left shoe was supposed to look metallic, but he couldn't actually wear a metal boot, so they'd just added a metallic paint and actual metal accessories to the boot. Because they'd been in a hurry, they'd just stuck the metal to his boot through magnets. They stayed on firmly, but if pulled on, they could easily come off.

Orton grabbed a magnet from his boot and straightened. He looked at Dakota apologetically. Computers were a relatively new concept in his time period. Orton certainly knew of them, but he'd never used one before. He'd heard about them, and one thing that he'd heard was that magnets could mess with them. He just hoped the information wasn't false, and that whatever this did wasn't actually too harmful. After all, Orton didn't want to permanently ruin Dakota's systems, just make them falter for a moment.

"I'm sorry," Orton said. Dakota turned towards him slightly, but before he could see what he was doing Orton brought the magnet up to Dakota's head. Orton knew that Dakota's actual computer was with Milo and Cavendish, but maybe the Dakota in front of him still had at least some systems in him. Orton sure hoped so, otherwise this wouldn't work, even if the magnet thing was even true.

Dakota grimaced and his form seemed to waver and glitch for a moment. Orton was alarmed to see a rainbow color on Dakota's head. It didn't look right. After a moment Dakota turned to Orton looking incredibly concerned. "How did we get out here?"

"I'll explain later," Orton frowned. He felt horrible, but they needed to save the world, as well as themselves. "We need to get upstairs and get the time machine going before the pistachions show up, which will be any minute now." Perry was watching them anxiously. Orton hadn't known that a platypus could even look anxious.

"I guess we'd better go," Even when Dakota didn't have any idea what was going on, he was determined to continue on with the job at hand. Or maybe it was _because_ he didn't know what was going on that he was so determined. He didn't seem aware that Milo was in potential danger, and right now that was what they needed.

Dakota lead the way upstairs. Perry looked back towards the fallen tree, where Milo had been. The platypus then gave Orton a stern, almost scolding look before hurrying after Dakota. Orton, pushing away the guilt he was feeling, followed behind them.

They reached Doofenshmirtz' home in record time. Orton locked the door behind them. He took the clock from Dakota and gave it to Doofenshmirtz. "Are we ready to go. The pistachions are coming." Dakota had said they were coming. He would have been able to tell.

Dakota blinked and watched as Doofenshmirtz drained the time juice from the clock. "Wait...didn't Milo go get that clock?" Dakota looked around. The rainbow color had faded from his head. Whatever Orton had done, it was wearing off. "Where's Milo?"

Cavendish was eying Dakota with concern. The man wasn't wearing his hat, and was rubbing the back of his head. What had affected Dakota was felt, at least subtly, by Cavendish. "Yes, where _is_ Milo."

"He's safe," Orton assured them. It wasn't something that he could know for sure, but it was a fairly educated guess. Milo was a resourceful child, he would be fine. Orton took Dakota's hand and pulled him onto the time machine. Cavendish looked confused, but he climbed on as well. Perry the Platypus was chattering to Doofenshmirtz. Neither of them looked very happy, though Orton thought that Doofenshmirtz was more upset about Dakota's insistence that they not include a self destruct button. "Are we ready to go?"

"Ready enough," Doofenshmirtz said. "We may want to test it out first," The five of them turned when they heard thuds and pounding outside the door.

"We don't have time," Cavendish rushed to the activation button and pressed it. Just as they saw a pair of pistachions break down the door they slipped into the time stream.

* * *

 **A/N:** **This chapter was kinda fun. I don't know if Orton was in character, but I like him, even if he did kinda hurt Dakota a little bit. You know, when I first started this story, I wasn't planning on having so many characters think that it's okay to treat Dakota like he's more of a computer that doesn't have feelings than a human who does. It's kinda weird.**

 **I took some creative liberties with Dakota's reaction to magnets. I know that computers' memories are messed up by magnets, but Dakota himself isn't the computer, he's just a physical manifestation that the computer in Cavendish's head makes. My sister, who is more familiar with computers than I am, said that Dakota as a Squip would be a software while the Squip in Cavendish's head is the hardware, which would be the part that would be affected by a magnet. Also, I don't know if damage to computers can wear off, let alone this quickly, but Dakota is a fictional type of supercomputer from the future. I think it's okay to take creative liberties.**

 **I actually asked my dad and siblings about the computer magnet memory thing (they actually do programming and work with computers), so my basic level of knowledge comes from them. I think I worried my dad for a moment though when I started asking him how computers can be temporarily damaged, or what exactly magnets do to them. I had to reassure him that it was all completely hypothetical.**


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N:** **Little bit of a trigger warning for this chapter. There's a bit of a kind of panic attack in the story, so proceed with caution if you must (I say it's kind of a panic attack, because it's not exactly like the symptoms that I know of, but it's definitely something).**

* * *

Something was horribly wrong. Dakota felt like he was missing something really important, but he couldn't figure out what it was. All he knew was that it had something to do with the gap in his memory. He was a computer, he didn't just _forget_ things, at least not naturally or without outside influence messing with his systems.

Dakota looked at Cavendish, who was staring at him in concern. "Did something happen to you while we were gone?" Dakota asked.

Cavendish rubbed the back of his head with a slight grimace. "I was about to ask you the same thing." Cavendish's eyes widened in alarm and he looked at Dakota's head like something was on it. "There's...why is your hair colorful?" Cavendish moved his hand gently over Dakota's hair. It tickled slightly, which was strange. Things shouldn't tickle him.

Cavendish slowly moved his hand until Dakota felt his form waver and twitch. "Ow!" Dakota drew back and ducked his head. He instinctively wanted to draw his hands up to the sensitive spot, but he held back. Touching it was what had irritated it in the first place.

Cavendish drew back like he was burned. "That looks like…" Cavendish turned towards Orton in alarm. "Did Dakota come in contact with a magnet?" Dakota started. Magnets were extremely dangerous for computers. They screwed with their memory systems. Most computers in the future were immune to the effects of magnets, but the original version of Squips were from the past, and they were still made in much the same way.

Orton flinched and looked extremely guilty about something. "Yes, unfortunately it was the only way I could think of to get Dakota moving. He was too worried about-"

"Milo!" Dakota looked around the little time vehicle rapidly, even though he knew the boy wasn't there. "He...he's in trouble," Dakota's memories were still failing him, but he had small flashes of _something_. Pistachions approaching, A tree between them and Milo, the sound of Milo running away, accompanied by a feeling of terror.

"We have to go back," Dakota rushed to where Doofenshmirtz and Perry the Platypus were hanging out near the controls. Dakota was so single-minded and determined to return to milo that he barely noticed that he pushed Perry out of his way, and the small platypus could have fallen into the time stream if Doofenshmirtz hadn't pulled him back.

"Hey!" Doofenshmirtz looked at Dakota in irritation. Perry the Platypus made a clacking-like growl. Dakota didn't feel guilty at all, which was what he ended up feeling bad for. Milo had been trying so hard to teach him to be concerned about _everyone_ , not just those he felt connected to. Dakota felt like he was failing his programming. He didn't care about people as much as he probably should, and yet he cared about Milo and Cavendish far more than a Squip should care about anybody, host or not.

Dakota hastily scanned the controls and froze when he noticed that something was incredibly wrong here. He immediately knew what was missing, but it took him a few long moments to actually process it enough to say something.

"There isn't a return button," All time machines had a function to make it simple to return to the time they had just left. It was supposed to make things easier. It was one of the most basic functions of time machines, in matters of importance and amount of use it was second only to the main time traveling part of the vehicle, and yet it was missing.

Dakota turned and glared at Doofenshmirtz, his eyes flashing viciously. "Where's the return button?"

"I didn't think it was needed," Doofenshmirtz crossed his arms defensively. Dakota seethed furiously.

"But you thought a self destruct button was?" Dakota growled.

"Well, obviously we have different ideas of what's important." Doofenshmirtz wasn't intimidated by Dakota, which just irritated him even more. "This was my first time working with time machines. I asked you if everything looked okay with the time machine. If this return button is so important, why didn't you say anything then, hmm?"

"I...was distracted," Dakota could barely remember what Doofenshmirtz was saying, but it sounded vaguely familiar. One thing that he did know though was that he had been focused completely on Milo at the time.

"Wait a second," Cavendish looked alarmed and slightly furious. "There was something wrong with the time vehicle, and you didn't notice it?"

"Wha-hey!" Dakota turned to Cavendish angrily. He didn't like being scolded like he was being given a poor performance review. He was doing his best! "You were the one working with him on the time vehicle, and you didn't notice anything either."

"You're a supercomputer!" Cavendish shouted. "Your whole point is to keep things like this from happening."

"My point?" Dakota's form glitched slightly. Cavendish flinched, and Dakota honestly didn't know if it was because of what he'd said, or if he'd actually done something to Cavendish through their connection. "The only point I have is to do what I want, and what I want is to help the kid."

Dakota turned his attention back to the main controls. If he couldn't push the return button, he would just have to hack into the time vehicle and manually change their destination. Dakota was just about to do that when he saw that the return button wasn't the only thing that the time vehicle was missing. There was a year and month setting, but the day one seemed to be completely missing.

Dakota felt like his processes were frozen. There were a lot of parts that went into a time vehicle. It was an easy enough mistake to make, to not notice that a single button was missing, even a button as important and common as the return button. But to not notice that a third of the single most important part of the time vehicle was completely missing, it was an incredibly sloppy mistake to make for any time traveler, but for a Squip it was practically unforgivable.

Dakota didn't like the thought of having been created to serve a specific purpose, but Cavendish was right. The main reason why the B.o.T.T. used Squips was because they were able to notice technical details that others might miss. This was technically what his purpose was, but Dakota hated and somewhat rejected that thought. And yet he still felt bad about screwing it up. Why should he feel like he had failed when it wasn't something that he felt should be his responsibility more than anyone else's?

Logically, Dakota knew that it wasn't that bit a deal. Even if Doofenshmirtz hadn't included a day function in his time vehicle, Dakota could easily override things and input the information for himself, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He felt like he couldn't move.

"...Dakota," He barely reacted when he felt Orton grab his arm and gently pull him away from the controls. "Dakota, are you okay?"

Dakota blinked. He should be okay, he knew there was no real reason why he shouldn't be, but the more he tried to tell himself this the worse he felt. He couldn't even say what was on his mind, because his mouth refused to work for him. He knew exactly what he wanted to say, and it was like he was physically incapable of getting it out.

"Dakota?" Cavendish reached out to him, but Orton moved Dakota right past him and lead him to the corner of the time vehicle. Orton sat down on the ground and pulled Dakota down to sit next to him. Dakota let himself be maneuvered around, because he lacked the motivation to do anything else. Even thinking felt a little hard to do. The only thing that Dakota could think clearly about was that he should be better than this. He couldn't even think of how, exactly, he could be doing better. The only thing going through his head over and over was that he wasn't doing good enough.

"Can you answer a question for me?" Orton asked. Dakota didn't feel like he could, but his processes were already firing up, ready to answer a question. It may not happen immediately, but Dakota was fairly confident in his ability to answer a question. He nodded his head. "What are you feeling right now?" Orton's tone wasn't cautious and pitying. It sounded a lot like how he'd sounded when he was asking them questions about his show. He wasn't being overly careful, he was just trying to make conversation.

Dakota felt like this should help him to feel calmer, but he felt somehow even worse. What kind of question was that? Statistics, history, facts, those were things that he could find in an instant, and it would give him something to focus on. How was he supposed to answer this question about his feelings when he didn't know what his feelings were?

Dakota groaned and ducked his head against his knees. There was just so much information running through his systems, and he couldn't make sense of any of it. He couldn't exactly turn off his processes, but at least he could block out any additional information.

"Don't worry about making it understandable," Doofenshmirtz said. "Give yourself a minute, we're not in any hurry, and then just say whatever you're thinking of. Talking about it helps, trust me," And Dakota did. All of the books and stories about Professor Time went into great detail about his past. He'd been through a lot, and he always wanted to talk about it. If anyone was an expert about talking through his pain, it was Doofenshmirtz.

Dakota dragged his feet across the ground. It gave him something to focus on. He stopped trying to gather his thoughts and just focused on his feet. The consistent movement and sound was somewhat soothing. It took him a minute, but Dakota was able to calm down his frantic thoughts enough to remember how to vocalize them.

"I should...I should be better than this." Dakota said, his voice wavering. It hadn't really done that before.

Dakota could feel Cavendish's confusion through their connection. "Better than what?" Dakota heard Cavendish approach him, but he stopped a few feet away. Cavendish never really knew what to do when it came to being comforting.

"I don't know," Dakota said. He kind of knew, but he certainly felt like he didn't, which he didn't understand. "I should be in control of my emotions."

Doofenshmirtz scoffed so loudly and irritably that Dakota lifted his head and looked towards him. "Says who?"

Dakota didn't answer, but Cavendish cleared his throat. "Well, Squips aren't exactly known for being particularly emotional," Cavendish explained. Doofenshmirtz crossed his arms and gave Cavendish an irritated look.

"So what?" Doofenshmirtz' gaze softened as he looked back towards Dakota. He still looked unimpressed, but it seemed to be more with the situation than with Dakota himself. "Why ' _should'_ you be like that just because other squipy-things are?" Dakota chuckled slightly. Squipy-things. That was definitely a new one.

"Some could say that I _should_ be able to write a show without relying on time travelers from the future, because other writers manage it," Orton said.

Perry the Platypus made his clacking-like growl sound and Doofenshmirtz nodded. "Yes, exactly, thank you Perry the Platypus." Doofenshmirtz gestured to the Platypus. "Some people say that Perry the Platypus _should_ be brown, because it's the _normal_ color for a platypus. Or they might think that Perry the Platypus _shouldn't_ be a secret agent, because he's _just_ a platypus."

Doofenshmirtz looked like he was just barely getting started. "I grew up hearing all about what I _should_ be, and let me tell you this, it really doesn't matter." Doofenshmirtz gestured around them, though Dakota didn't completely understand why. "Who cares about what you _should_ be? Just because some people are a certain way doesn't mean that you have to be too."

Cavendish slowly stepped closer to Dakota and held a hand out to him. "Honestly, I prefer you as an emotional mess over an uncaring computer."

Having emotions was hard, and sometimes Dakota wished that he didn't care so much, but maybe Cavendish had a point. Dakota couldn't imagine what it would be like for him to be a regular Squip.

Dakota gave Cavendish a small smile as he took his hand and got pulled to his feet. "Thanks," Dakota took a deep breath, though he really didn't need it. All of them were right, he needed to take a step back and look at this whole thing from a logical standpoint. Milo was a resourceful child, he would probably be okay. He had to be focused on the task at hand. They were time traveling for a reason. They were going to the past to...wait a second.

Dakota frowned and returned to the controls just to double check something he'd already been sure about. "Why are we going to 1965?"

"That's where the pistachions were," Cavendish gave him an odd and slightly concerned look. "How much was your memory affected?"

"My memory is fine," Dakota said. "But the pistachions were already pretty solidly there by the time we got there. We don't know how long they were there for. We don't really have a plan."

Cavendish was taken aback. "I...no, I suppose we don't."

Dakota put his hands over the controls, hacking into them. "Getting a jump on the pistachions when they're not expecting it is a good idea, but not when we don't know what we're doing. We need to come up with a plan first." Dakota noticed something else about the time vehicle, and he was glad he saw it now instead of after they left the time stream. "We don't have a lot of time juice. We've got enough to make one jump for sure, but I can't guarantee we have enough to make it back." Time juice from the clocks in the future may be used in time vehicles, but it was really hard to tell just how effective it could be.

Cavendish, Doofenshmirtz, and Perry the Platypus looked extremely alarmed. Only Orton seemed unconcerned, but they were currently on their way to his time, so if they got stuck he wouldn't be in that much trouble.

Dakota looked at all of them. "How do you guys feel if we go back to Milo's time and figure things out from there? There are more pistachions there, but there are also more people that can help," Like Milo, for one, but there were others there.

Cavendish didn't look completely happy, but he wasn't arguing either. Orton looked really worried. "Would I be stuck there?"

"We'll figure out how to return you to your time," Dakota promised him, and that was a promise that he intended to keep. No matter how long it took, they would make sure that everybody was returned to their own time period.

Orton was hesitant, but he finally nodded. "Whatever you need." Orton was putting his complete trust in them, in Dakota, and it was a little frightening.

Dakota looked at Doofenshmirtz and Perry, who both nodded. They were on board with the idea. Cavendish was still cautious and unsure, but he was willing to give it a try. Like Orton Cavendish was willing to put some trust in him. Dakota just hoped that he wasn't letting his concern for Milo and desire to get back to the kid cloud his decision making. He hoped that going back really would be the best thing to do. Dakota didn't want to mess things up any more than he already had.

Dakota put his hands on the controls and hacked into them. He rerouted the time period destination. He also changed their physical destination. The pistachions were all over Danville, but thanks to Dakota's resources he was able to find a place where they wouldn't be bothered by pistachions. At least, not immediately.

Once Dakota had everything arranged and the time vehicle was heading where they needed to go he turned to Cavendish, who had pulled out his phone. One quick glance into Cavendish's mind and his phone told Dakota exactly what he was doing, but he didn't immediately believe it.

"You're contacting Milo?" Dakota asked quietly. Cavendish looked embarrassed about being called out, but he didn't try to hide it, which was good. Cavendish couldn't really hide anything from Dakota, just like Dakota couldn't hide anything from him.

"Just sending him a quick text to make sure that he's okay," Cavendish said. "I have great confidence in Milo's abilities, but you were so worried. I thought you might feel better if you heard from him yourself."

Dakota hadn't even considered the possibility of contacting Milo. His systems were too scrambled. He was getting careless, and he felt horrible about it, but he really appreciated what Cavendish was doing. The man was really trying.

Is he okay?" Dakota looked over Cavendish's shoulder, though he really didn't have to. Cavendish didn't call him out there, he just adjusted the phone and allowed Dakota to get a better look. Cavendish had only just sent the message, so there wasn't a response yet, but Dakota could see a small symbol that meant that Milo was in the process of writing a response. He wouldn't be doing that if he wasn't okay.

Dakota relaxed and leaned against Cavendish's shoulder. "The kid's alright." Dakota still wanted to see what exactly Milo's message was, but he wasn't terrified and on the verge of freaking out again.

"Yes, he is," Cavendish said just as his phone pinged. Milo had responded. Dakota grabbed Cavendish's phone away from him. Dakota was desperate to hear from Milo.

' _I'm okay! I'm with Zack and Melissa. We've met some new friends, and we're going to try to figure out how to help the others. What about you guys?'_

Dakota grinned. Not only was Milo just fine, but so were his friends. They had even found some help. He went into the phone's basic systems and immediately had a response appear. Maybe he was getting lazy, but this was a lot faster than texting.

 _Dakota here. We got into the time stream, but decided that going to the past might not be the best idea without a plan. We're heading back to your time so we can all regroup. Where are you?_

"What's going on?" Cavendish looked annoyed at not having access to his own phone. Dakota sheepishly handed it back to him.

"Milo's met up with his friends and some other people," Dakota said. "We're going to meet up with them."

"That sounds like a good place to start," Cavendish nodded his approval. His phone dinged again and he looked at it. Cavendish smiled when he saw it. "We have Murphy's destination." Another message showed up. Cavendish glanced at it and then held it out for him to see. Dakota felt both happy and a little sad to see it. He hated having conflicting emotions about something that should be so simple.

 _I'm sorry for running off on you, Dakota._

Milo had nothing to be sorry for. He'd done what he thought was best. It wasn't his fault that Dakota got so worried about him.

Dakota put his hand on the phone and sent out another message.

 _It's fine, kid. We'll see you soon._

Dakota put his hands into his pockets and tried to relax. Milo was okay, the time machine wasn't perfect, but it was working well enough, and while they still didn't have a plan, they at least had an idea of how they could make a plan. There was no reason for him to be so upset, but he couldn't shake the feeling that either something was about to go wrong, or he was about to do something to make their situation worse.

Cavendish put his hand on Dakota's arm. "Don't worry so much. We can figure things out." Of course Cavendish could tell what he was thinking. They really couldn't hide anything from each other. Cavendish gave him a meaningful look. "And when I say _we_ I mean _all of us._ Just because you're a Squip doesn't mean that you have to shoulder everything. We're a team," Cavendish shifted uncomfortably. "And I'm sorry if I ever forget that, or don't act like it."

Dakota knew that Cavendish rarely tried to be mean. Cavendish sometimes had a hard time remembering to keep in mind the emotions of those around him. The fact that Dakota was a computer, which normally wasn't an emotional being, didn't help matters. Cavendish was actually doing a lot better than Dakota had thought he would when they had first met. They'd both come a long way since then.

"It's fine," Dakota said, and he really meant it. "I'm not exactly the perfect partner either." Neither of them were perfect, but they were figuring things out. Dakota didn't doubt that the two of them would be able to figure things out, it was just a matter of throwing all the others in with them. Cavendish was right though, between them, Doofenshmirtz and Perry, Milo and his friends, and whoever the kids were with, they would be able to come up with a way to stop the pistachions. They had to.

* * *

 **A/N:** **I was midway through writing this chapter when I realized that I had no idea what I was doing with it. I had to take a minute to figure out what I was going to be doing to finish up this pistachion arc (hence why they go into the time stream, only to jump right out of it. I just couldn't think of any reason why they would go to 1965).**

 **Because I didn't know what I was doing with this chapter, and I've been in a bit of a mood these past few days while writing this, I ended up projecting onto Dakota quite a bit. Though Dakota in the show isn't exactly an anxious person, he's apparently become the character for me to project my anxieties onto, because this is the third time where I have written Dakota as a little anxious, at least in the way that I deal with anxiety. The whole thing with Dakota not being able to focus his thoughts outside of what he should be able to do, as well as his apparent inability to vocalize his thoughts for a bit, and the thing with dragging his feet on the ground, those are all the kind of main symptoms that I deal with when I'm at my most anxious. I'm still not really sure why I decided to write it with Dakota, but it kinda feels nice to write about it. It's easier to think about it in a logical way when it's not about me.**

 **I just wish I knew what exactly my freaking out thing was, because panic and anxiety attack symptoms don't really seem to fit it, and neither do meltdowns. I guess I Don't really need a word for it, but it would help me be able to figure out how to deal with it. If any of you guys know what exactly it's called, I would love to know. It could really help.**


	20. Chapter 20

Doofenshmirtz wasn't entirely sure what was going on. Something about pistachio monsters that were taking over the city. There were two people from the future, one of them a normal person (probably, though Doofenshmirtz wouldn't be surprised if he ended up being, like, a ghost from the 1800s or something) and the other was somehow a computer. Then there was this guy from the past, and a child in the middle of all of this. That was all Doofenshmirtz knew, but he'd dealt with less than that before. He wouldn't let something as silly as a lack of knowledge stop him.

Doofenshmirtz wasn't all that disappointed that they weren't actually traveling back in time. He had actually invented a time machine, and it had worked! Sure, the machine itself wasn't perfect, but it had definitely seemed to be doing the job okay enough, and it hadn't blown up. It was exciting, and when the world wasn't in danger, he could always try time traveling again. He probably would have to try time traveling again sooner rather than later, because they had to get Orton back to his own time.

First things first though, they had to deal with this pistachio problem. Dakota was right, they didn't really have a plan, but Doofenshmirtz was sure that once they rejoined with Milo and his little friends,once they knew just what resources they had at their disposal, they'd be able to better come up with a plan that might work.

Because of Dakota's hacking, when they pulled out of the time stream they found themselves right at the warehouse where they were meeting with the others, and there wasn't even a pistachio creature in sight. For once, things seemed to be going their way.

"Should we try to conceal the time vehicle?" Cavendish asked nervously.

"It's out of time juice. The pistachions wouldn't be able to use it anyways," Dakota said. "Right now, we just have to focus on fixing the problems we already have. We can't really worry about problems that _could_ show up."

It made sense to Doofenshmirtz, so he followed Dakota to the entrance of the warehouse. Doofenshmirtz knew that Dakota was really eager to see Milo, so he thought that he would hurry inside as soon as possible, but Dakota hesitated as he looked at the warehouse. He seemed to be considering something.

After a moment Dakota turned towards Perry the Platypus. "I know this address, and I don't think you want the kids in there to know you're, you know, a secret agent."

Perry the Platypus looked alarmed for a second before he nodded and took his hat off, going to all fours. Doofenshmirtz hated when Perry the Platypus did this. He knew that Perry the Platypus wasn't just a mindless animal who sat around all day not doing much, so it was unnerving to see him act like he was. Doofenshmirtz would rather that Perry the Platypus didn't hide who he really was, but Perry the Platypus and Dakota both seemed to know what they were doing. If they thought it was best for him to basically be undercover, then Doofenshmirtz wasn't going to question it.

They entered the warehouse, and immediately saw Milo waiting there for them.

"Dakota!" Milo wrapped his arms around Dakota. "I'm so sorry. I didn't want to worry you."

"It's alright," Dakota assured him. "I'm just glad you're okay. So, these new friends of yours, they wouldn't happen to be Phineas Flynn and Ferb Fletcher, would they?"

"Well, I don't know those last names, but Phineas and Ferb are here, yeah," Milo said. Doofenshmirtz wasn't familiar with those names, but Dakota clearly knew who they were, and he looked excited. "There's also Candace, Baljeet, and Buford,"

"Almost the whole gang," Dakota muttered. His eyes flashed as his gears began to turn. He was already coming up with a plan. "I guess Isabella's with the other Fireside Girls,"

Doofenshmirtz and Milo both gave Dakota a confused look. "Who are these guys?" Doofenshmirtz asked.

"They become pretty big deals in their time," Dakota said. "I really can't think of anyone whose help I would rather have to deal with these nut jobbers." Well, the supercomputer knew best.

"Would they be able to know how to stop the pistachions?" Doofenshmirtz asked.

Dakota closed his eyes and seemed to think it through carefully. "As adults, maybe, but right now they're just kids. I think they'd do better at holding off and fighting the pistachions, but stopping them for good...statistically, I think the chances are better for you to figure out how to stop them."

"Why don't they work together?" Milo asked, and Doofenshmirtz thought he agreed. Two heads, or three, were better than one.

"I considered that," Dakota said, "But sometimes when these three work together on something, well...there is such a thing as too much of a good thing, you know. Too many chefs in the kitchen, you know?"

Doofenshmirtz was just confused. He didn't work with other scientists, let alone children. He didn't even know who these kids were, but Dakota seemed pretty confident that he shouldn't work with them, and Perry the Platypus was nodding along in alarm. The two of them knew something that he didn't.

Milo was unconvinced. "Well, we can try working in separate groups, but if Doofenshmirtz needs help, you really should ask for help."

Doofenshmirtz didn't really mind asking for help. He was a proud man, but he wasn't arrogant enough to think he was above help. "I'll do that," Doofenshmirtz actually wouldn't mind working with this Phineas and Ferb from the start, but it Dakota and Perry the Platypus didn't think it was a good idea, then he would trust them.

"Murphy," Cavendish came in behind them. He seemed relieved. "Good to see you,"

"You too, Cavendish," Milo said cheerfully. "And you, Orton."

"What are we doing here?" Orton asked.

"Getting reinforcements," Dakota said. "Milo, how about you take Cav and Orton back to the others and see if you guys can all figure out a way to fight off the pistachions." Milo nodded and lead the others into the main room of the warehouse, leaving just Dakota, Doofenshmirtz, and Perry the Platypus.

"So, I guess that leaves us to brainstorming how to get rid of these pistachions," Doofenshmirtz guessed.

"I already have a couple of ideas," Dakota said. "I'm guessing you do too,"

Doofenshmirtz hadn't thought a lot about what his thoughts were, but thinking about it for a moment, he realized that he actually had a bunch of half baked ideas running around in his head. All he had to do was develop one of those ideas until it was at least three quarters of the way baked, and they'd be able to really work something out.

"Yeah, I have some plans," Doofenshmirtz said. "We just have to work through them."

"I'm really good at doing that," Dakota said confidently. A moment later he chuckled and put his hands in his pockets. "Well, I'm good with working through other people's thoughts. My own, I don't understand them half the time,"

"I know the feeling," Doofenshmirtz said. His thoughts were sometimes so scattered that his -inators would end up as a disorganized mess that even he didn't understand.

The three of them left the small entryway as Dakota brought them to a side room. "The boys probably won't come in here, but it's probably better to be safe than sorry," Dakota said to Perry the Platypus. Doofenshmirtz was disappointed that Perry the Platypus decided to keep his hat off. He was still a secret agent, but right now he also felt the need to pretend that he was a regular animal, which was...fine. It was fine.

"So...pistachios," Doofenshmirtz said, not knowing how else to get them started. "What are their natural enemy?"

"In the wild? fungi," Dakota said. "They carry diseases and infect plants all the time, but fungal diseases are unpredictable."

"We'll just have to figure out how to make them more predictable," Doofenshmirtz said confidently. That was what he felt the whole point of science was, to control the uncontrollable. "Or we can figure something else out entirely. If we can't use pistachio's natural enemy, what about an _unnatural_ enemy?"

Dakota paused. His eyes sparked, and Doofenshmirtz found himself staring in fascination. It wasn't something that he had seen in computers _or_ humans. He wondered what exactly it meant. He'd seen this kind of thing from Dakota a couple of times, and he still didn't know for sure if it happened because Dakota was losing control of his emotions, or if it was an indication that Dakota was searching for information.

"Yeah, humans have always been really good at finding new ways to destroy nature, even if it's just by accident." Dakota said. "We could always try using pesticides and weed killers, except these pistachions are from the future. For all I know, they could be completely genetically adapted to the weed killers in this time period."

"We could do things that destroy plants and nature in general," Doofenshmirtz suggested. "Like fire!"

Dakota frowned slightly. "If all of the pistachios weren't right near the people they were keeping imprisoned, I would say go for it, but I don't think Milo would be very happy with me putting his family in danger." Doofenshmirtz knew that Dakota cared a lot about Milo, but now it was clear that he also really cared about what Milo thought of him. Doofenshmirtz himself didn't quite agree with this. He'd learned in his childhood, and was trying really hard to keep in mind all the time, that if he spent all his time trying to be who someone else wanted him to be, he would just end up miserable, and they would ultimately be disappointed. He couldn't imagine Dakota or Milo would ultimately be really happy with this setup, but right now wasn't the time for Doofenshmirtz to tackle it, so he let it go, at least for the moment.

"Okay, so fire is going on our 'plan B' list," Doofenshmirtz said. He frequently had more 'plan B's than 'plan A's, it was how he worked best. He knew that it wasn't for everyone though. "So we need something that will kill plants, but won't hurt people."

"There are lots of things that are harmful to the environment," Dakota said thoughtfully. "But something that is harmless to humans? There's not actually all that much out there. Humans are _part_ of nature."

Doofenshmirtz didn't know a whole lot about nature and environment. It wasn't something that he thought a lot about before except when he was using it for a scheme or plan of his. However, there was one small bit of information that was always lingering at the back of his mind that had been brought closer to the front when he'd thought they were going back to the year 1965.

"What about soda?" Doofenshmirtz asked. "I know of a brand of soda that got discontinued because it was supposedly 'bad for the environment'."

Dakota flinched and frowned slightly. "Are you talking about Wyatt Burp orange soda?"

Doofenshmirtz was surprised at first. Not many people remembered Wyatt Burp brand soda, but then again, Dakota was a supercomputer. He had all kinds of information at his disposal. "Yeah, that's it," Dakota looked slightly ill, which was surprising. Doofenshmirtz didn't think he'd ever get over just how expressive Dakota was. It was extremely fascinating. But maybe right now, when Dakota seemed so distressed, it wasn't the right time to focus on it. "What's wrong?"

Dakota stiffened. He looked really defensive. "Well, the soda is just as bad for Squips as they are for the environment." Dakota glanced towards the exit. "If a Squip's host drinks Wyatt Burp orange soda, the Squip gets shut down."

"Alright, nothing we can't deal with," Doofenshmirtz said. "We'll just keep you, Milo, and Cavendish away from the soda. We'd just be using it on the pistachions anyways, that is, if it'll actually destroy them," Doofenshmirtz gave Dakota a questioning look. He hadn't actually seen what Wyatt Burp orange soda did to plants and the environment, but Dakota probably knew the specifics better than he did.

"Oh, it would work," Dakota said confidently. "Just a few drops would be enough to kill any plant, even mutated plants like the pistachions."

Doofenshmirtz hummed slightly. If they basically just had to splash the pistachions, there were a couple of ways they could do that. "Where are the pistachions?"

"Lard World." Dakota said. "Nearly all pistachions are there, except for a few stragglers."

"Most is better than nothing," Doofenshmirtz said. "And if they're in the amusement park, we can deal with that. If we can hook the soda up to the water system of the park and turn on the sprinkler system, we're good to go."

"Where are we supposed to get enough of a discontinued soda to do that?" Dakota crossed his arms.

"We can make it ourselves," Doofenshmirtz said. If Dakota had a recipe for the soda, Doofenshmirtz knew that he'd be able to come up with something that would work.

Dakota blinked. The idea seemed to have not even occurred to him. Doofenshmirtz felt proud that he had been able to think of something before a super computer could. "Actually, that could probably work, although..would it be easier to make the soda if we had a sample of it?" Dakota's question was hesitant, like he didn't know if he even wanted to know the answer.

"Actually, that would make things go a lot faster," Doofenshmirtz looked at Dakota in confusion and slight suspicion. "But I thought the whole reason why we needed to make the soda was because it isn't available in this time,"

"Yeah, but Cavendish might have some on hand." Dakota said quietly. Doofenshmirtz paused and narrowed his eyes at Dakota.

"He has a Squip programmed in him, right?" Doofenshmirtz asked. Dakota nodded. "Why would he have something that would shut you off?"

Dakota flinched slightly as he drew in on himself. "That's actually what he wanted it for," Doofenshmirtz stared at him in shock. Before he could even think of what he could say, Dakota cut in again. "It's really complicated, but we're trying to figure it out, okay?"

No, Doofenshmirtz didn't think that it was okay at all, but he knew they didn't really have time to deal with it right now. Besides, whatever was going on between Dakota and Cavendish was their business, not his.

"If Cavendish still has the soda, we can use it," Doofenshmirtz said.

"Give me a second," Dakota said as he closed his eyes. He was quiet for a long, tense moment before Dakota opened his eyes again. "Cavendish still has the stuff, and I thought he would. He hates wasting or throwing things away if he's paid for them. He and Orton are going to be getting them." Dakota turned to Perry the Platypus, who Doofenshmirtz was unnerved to notice that he had completely forgotten was even there. This was why he didn't like when Perry the Platypus took his hat off. "Can you go with them and make sure they don't get themselves killed?"

Perry the Platypus nodded and slipped his hat back on, which Doofenshmirtz really appreciated. Perry the Platypus made his way out of the room to meet up with the others.

Dakota stretched and adjusted his glasses. "I guess the two of us should see if we can find some soda making ingredients so we can get started as soon as Cavendish and the others get back."

Doofenshmirtz agreed, but he couldn't keep himself from asking just one question. "You really trust Cavendish to get the soda after what he did?"

Dakota gave him a small smile. "Cavendish asked me the same thing. But yeah, I think I really do." And that was good enough for Doofenshmirtz.

"In that case, let's get to work," Doofenshmirtz said. They had pistachions to get rid of.

* * *

 **A/N:** **This whole pistachion arc is lasting a lot longer than I thought it would. I like how much I've changed it, but it's definitely a lot more than what I was expecting. I think that next chapter should be the last one of this arc, and then we'll finally be going into the second season. I'm not positive about just how I'm going to be ending this story, but I'll figure something out.**

 **(Also, please just forget about how I never actually had Cavendish and Dakota make that phone call to Milo, which was the thing that started this whole arc in the first place. I tried, but I couldn't figure out how to fit them making the phone call into the story in a natural way. Just assume it happened off screen or something).**


	21. Chapter 21

Cavendish had been so worried about the pistachions and what they were supposed to do about them, but the solution that Dakota and Professor Time, or, well, Dr. Doofenshmirtz, came up with was so simple. It just seemed way too easy, to destroy the entire pistachion species by just hooking some soda up to the sprinkler system at Lard World. The pistachions would be killed, the humans would be unharmed, and everything would go back to normal. It was simple. Easy.

 _Perfect._

Cavendish was reluctant to completely trust the plan or fully believe it would work. He wanted to believe it though, and Dakota was so confident about it, same as Dr. Doofenshmirtz. Both of them were so smart, if unconventional. With all the information at their disposal, surely any plan they came up with would have to be a decent one. So even though Cavendish didn't completely believe in it, he didn't have a better idea, so he tried his best to be cautiously optimistic about it. Cavendish would do what Dakota and Dr. Doofenshmirtz sent him to do, he would help in any way that he could, and he would hope for the best.

Though Cavendish had hoped for the best, he hadn't really thought that it would work. Every step of the way he worried about what could go wrong. He had thought that he and Orton would run into trouble on their way to get the soda from his apartment that he'd kept without really understanding why. Of course, he'd been pleased, but still shocked, when they got back safe.

Cavendish had thought that the pistachions would find their warehouse. They were almost discovered, when one of the children started live-streaming the work they were doing, but Dakota put a stop to that before anything could happen. Ultimately, they weren't discovered. They were all just fine, and they were able to finish their preparations and get to Lard World.

Cavendish had been concerned about a lot of things. He'd worried that they wouldn't be to make a soda with their limited resources, but Dr. Doofenshmirtz was able to manage it, and he even tested it on some small plants outside. They had, indeed, made Wyatt Burp Orange Soda.

Cavendish had stressed about them getting ambushed on their way to Lard World, but nothing happened. He worried about the children going head-on against the pistachions, keeping them occupied so the adults could get the soda set up in the sprinkler system. Somehow though, the children seemed to hold their own. Not even Murphy's Law seemed to be able to stop them. The children were all quite extraordinary. It may be dangerous, but they all seemed more than capable of holding their own.

When they got the sprinkler system set up, Dakota finally reconnected his systems with Milo to warn the boy to find his way to shelter. They didn't want to take any chances that Milo would ingest any of the soda and accidentally turn off his Squip. Once Milo and Cavendish were both safe and completely out of the way, Dakota spent a couple of moments looking through the video feeds of Lard World. He was just making sure that no pistachions were coming their way. It was just a precaution.

Cavendish was finally starting to think that things were going their way when Dakota flinched and stopped looking at the feeds. He seemed alarmed. "Brick and Savannah are here,"

At first Cavendish didn't understand, but Dakota's connection to him helped him to understand fairly quickly. "Brick's Squip,"

Dr. Doofenshmirtz looked at them in confusion. "What's Brick?"

"A jerk," Dakota said.

"Another time traveler," Cavendish said over him. "He has a super computer as well, just like me,"

"So the soda is just as dangerous to him as it is to Cav and Milo," Dakota said. "I doubt that Brick actually cares about Savannah, or that Savannah would care either way," Dakota said. "She's a different Squip than I am. She doesn't get complicated feelings. She does what she's told, and that's basically all, but…"

"But she's a Squip, and you're a Squip," Dr. Doofenshmirtz said. Dakota nodded. Cavendish didn't entirely understand it. He could feel exactly what Dakota could feel right now, he just didn't get it. Why would Savannah being a Squip be enough reason for Dakota to want to save her? They may both be Squips, but they were nothing alike.

Still, if it was important to Dakota, Cavendish would do what he could to help.

"Where are they?" Cavendish asked. They would have to hurry, so they could get rid of the pistachions. A moment later the information seemed to come straight into Cavendish's head. He instinctively knew where he was supposed to go. Cavendish wasn't used to the kinds of things that a Squip could do to his head. He tried not to think too deeply about it.

"I'll take care of it," Cavendish said. He knew Dakota couldn't go, because Brick and Savannah thought that he was destroyed. It could cause a lot of complications if they saw he was still around.

"Take Orton with you," Dakota suggested. He grabbed a bottle of Wyatt Burp Orange Soda and handed it to Cavendish. "Use this to get through the pistachions' holding cells. I'll be watching the cameras and guiding you. Please just do what I say," Cavendish nodded. Now wasn't the time to question Dakota. He was a supercomputer, he had access to a lot of information.

Cavendish and Orton went on their way, sticking to the shadows and going into restricted areas to avoid any wandering pistachions. Because Dakota knew exactly what he was doing, it only took them a few minutes to get to Brick and Savannah.

There was a bit of a quiet commotion as the prisoners crowded towards him and Orton. It was shocking for them to see someone who hadn't been captured by the pistachions, especially when they didn't know what they were doing.

Orton put a finger to his lips, gesturing for the others to be quiet. "We have an idea on how to save everyone, but we need to not let the pistachions know we're up to something yet."

"Brick, Savannah, I need to speak with you," Cavendish whispered harshly.

"Cavendish?" Brick pushed his way through the crowd with Savannah just behind him. He looked far too annoyed to see Cavendish. "What are you doing here?" Brick crossed his arms. "And why do I get the feeling that you have something to do with this?"

"We don't have time to explain," Cavendish said. He held up the bottle of soda. "We have this stuff hooked up to the sprinkler system all over the park. It should get rid of the pistachions, but it could also get rid of Savannah."

"Soda?" Brick raised an eyebrow. "That's your big plan?"

Savannah didn't look as doubtful. Brick may not know what Wyatt Burp Orange Soda could do to plants, but she did. "Where did you get enough of the soda."

"A couple of friends were able to figure out how to make it," Cavendish said. Orton glanced anxiously behind them, keeping an eye out for pistachions.

"We need to go," Orton said. Cavendish agreed.

"We don't have time to waste." Cavendish looked at Brick urgently. "We need to get you under cover before turning on the sprinkler system."

"And why should I listen to you?" Brick glared at him. Cavendish stared at him in disbelief. He had just barely told Brick why he should listen to him. Why was that good enough for him?

' _He won't listen to you,'_ Dakota's voice rang in his head. ' _Permission to take more drastic measures?'_

 _Permission granted,'_ Cavendish didn't know just what Dakota had in mind, but if he knew how to get Brick to listen, he might as well listen. A moment later Savannah stiffened and her eyes sparked orange, the same color as Dakota's eye. Immediately afterwards Brick flinched.

"He'll move without complaint now," Savannah said, though the tone didn't sound like her. "Use the soda and get these two out of here."

"...Dakota?" Cavendish blinked in shock. Savannah gave him a small smirk that confirmed his suspicion. "Alright, let's go," Cavendish opened the bottle of soda and poured it on the vine wall of the cages.

"Please, everybody, stay here for just a few more minutes," Orton said to the other prisoners even as Cavendish and Savannah made their way out. "If people get out, the pistachions will know we're up to something." The crowd reluctantly agreed.

Brick's movements were stiff and unnatural, but he was moving quickly, making his way right to where Cavendish had been planning on leading them. Cavendish looked at Savannah. The fact that her eye was still oranged showed him that it was still Dakota in control. "Are you controlling Brick?"

"I don't like doing this," Dakota said in Savannah's voice. "But Brick wasn't going to cooperate."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," Cavendish said. Savannah still looked really conflicted, which meant that something was really bothering Dakota. "What's wrong?"

"...There's something I need to talk to you about," Dakota said. "When you get back," Cavendish nodded. He was worried about what Dakota would say. It had to be important, or else he would just communicate with him via his mind.

Once Brick was safely in an area that the sprinklers couldn't reach, Dakota and Orton made their way back to where Dr. Doofenshmirtz and Dakota were waiting for them.

"Are we ready to go?" Dr. Doofenshmirtz asked when he saw them. Cavendish nodded, and the scientist immediately activated the sprinkler system. It was actually happening. If their plan worked, the pistachions wouldn't be a problem anymore. It just sounded too good to be true.

Dakota's eyes were sparking and Cavendish could feel him looking for information. A moment later he grinned. "It's working. The pistachions are being destroyed. We just have to leave these sprinklers going and hope that it takes out most of the pistachions. It'll be a lot easier to deal with these nutjobbers when there's not an army of them."

Cavendish moved closer to Dakota. "You said you needed to talk to me?"

Dakota grimaced and pulled Cavendish slightly to the side, giving them at least the illusion of privacy. "I know you joined the B.o.T.T. because you wanted to save the world, and that's great, but do you have your heart set on doing it with time travel?"

Cavendish frowned slightly. "Well, no, I suppose not," Cavendish had originally aimed for the B.o.T.T. because it was an organization that could give him the opportunities that he was looking for, but it wasn't the only group. And Cavendish didn't even need to be part of an organization to save the world, it just made it easier, as well as made it more likely for him to get the acknowledgement that he wanted. "Why do you ask?"

Dakota sighed and slouched slightly. "I think that Brick felt that I was there controlling him. I don't really have the same pattern of control that Savannah has. She does things differently than I do. Last time I took control of Savannah, I was able to figure out how she does things and was able to mimic her pattern. This time though, I didn't have the time to do that."

Cavendish raised an eyebrow. "You think that Brick could tell the difference?"

Dakota scoffed. "Savannah takes control of Brick all the time. He's so familiar with her, there's no way he wouldn't know that something's going on,"

"Do you think he'll know it's you?" Cavendish asked.

"Maybe not," Dakota said. "But he'll think it has something to do with you, and he'll definitely tell Mr. Block about it,"

"And if Mr. Block investigates for himself, he may discover that you're back online," Cavendish paled. He hadn't got into too much trouble when Mr. Block thought that he'd shut off Dakota's systems, as he'd used his best judgement, and Mr. Block didn't care about the wellbeing of the Squips. As far as the head of B.o.T.T. was concerned, Squips were tools. If they couldn't do their job right, there was no reason to keep them.

But Cavendish reconnecting with Dakota, a Squip that he had previously reported as flawed, Mr. Block wouldn't be pleased. And if he found out that Dakota was also connected to Milo, an unauthorized child, they would all be in trouble.

"What are we supposed to do?" Cavendish asked.

"Well, if you're not working for the B.o.T.T, Mr. Block won't have any reason to look more into it," Dakota said. Cavendish looked at him in shock.

"Not working for the...what are you talking about?" Cavendish didn't understand where Dakota was going with this. "I can't just quit my job."

"Not quit," Dakota assured him. "Just...transfer, I guess."

"Transfer to where?" Cavendish asked, trying his best to keep calm. Dakota seemed to have a plan, he just had to trust him.

"P.I.G.," Dakota said. "Paranormal Investigation Group. They're based in this time period."

"Paranormal investigation," The concern that Cavendish had felt seemed to evaporate. "There's...that sounds like a chance to save the world,"

Dakota brightened. "Loads of chances to save the world," Cavendish didn't know if Dakota was actually excited about P.I.G. itself, or if he was happy that Cavendish seemed on board with this idea. "The head of P.I.G. is Bob Block, the great-great-great-grandfather of Mr. Block. He's from this time period, but he knows all about the future, and he's always trying to get his hands on tech from the future, and, well, that includes Squips."

Cavendish suddenly found himself much less enthusiastic about this idea. "You want to work for someone who will probably want to figure out how to use you?" It didn't seem fair.

"He's not that bad," Dakota waved off Cavendish's concern. "Bob Block treats all his assets, whether they be employees, weapons, or something in between, with...well, not with respect, but he treats them well.

Cavendish frowned. "And you're sure he won't hurt you?"

"Positive," Dakota said. Cavendish wasn't completely convinced, but working for someone who could potentially be a threat to Dakota seemed more appealing than working for someone who was almost definitely a threat.

Besides, Cavendish knew that he was considered a joke at B.o.T.T, and he was sick of being treated as such. Maybe a change in careers was just what they both needed.

"Alright," Cavendish sighed. "We'll give it a try."

Dakota grinned broadly at him. "I'll contact Bob Block and see if he's interested in hiring a time traveler and a supercomputer," Dakota seemed fairly confident that Bob Block wouldn't just be interested, he would be ecstatic. Cavendish knew that Dakota was excited, he just wasn't sure about this plan himself. He'd been feeling all day like something was going to go horribly wrong, and he couldn't shake the thought that this was what that feeling was about.

Dakota seemed so sure though, and fairly excited. Cavendish didn't want to let him down, so he agreed. He just hoped that this didn't turn out to be a mistake.

* * *

 **A/N:** **It feels good to finish up the pistachion arc. I feel a little weird about just finishing up the arc without having a single pistachion in the chapter, but it just feels so natural to do this way. And I've finally come up with an explanation as to why Bob Block would be so eager to hire Cavendish and Dakota even though he doesn't respect them and gives them the lowest position in P.I.G.**

 **Soon we're going to be getting into the beautiful mess that season 2 gave us, and I'm excited.**


	22. Chapter 22

Cavendish knew that Dakota was confident in working for P.I.G., but Cavendish didn't feel nearly as good about it. Bob Block didn't treat them horribly in the same way that Mr. Block had at B.o.T.T, but he didn't exactly treat them well either. At least, he didn't treat Cavendish well. Bob Block barely acknowledged him at all. He assigned Cavendish to essentially be an extraterrestrial janitor, and it was embarrassing. Cavendish was capable of so much, and nobody bothered to even give him a chance. It was frustrating.

Cavendish wanted to complain to someone, but he didn't dare. The last time he had voiced his displeasure to Dakota, the Squip had gone out of his way to set up a situation so that Cavendish could do what he wanted most, to save the world. Dakota had given him the chance to save the world by putting it at risk. They were incredibly lucky that they'd been able to defeat the pistachions not just once, but twice.

Cavendish was still worried about the pistachions, even though Bob Block had assured them that the situation had been taken care of. When they'd started working for P.I.G., the first thing that Dakota had done was ask Bob Block to use a time machine that he had procured to take Orton Mahlson back to his own time and then eliminate the pistachions in the past when they're vulnerable. They didn't know for sure that they had taken down every single pistachion with the soda, and the best way to ensure that they didn't become a problem again in the future was by making sure they didn't become a problem in the first place.

While Cavendish was frustrated with his work, and he was concerned about the pistachion situation, the thing he was most worried about was Dakota. His partner hadn't seemed exactly like himself lately, and Cavendish knew that Bob Block and P.I.G. had something to do with it. When Cavendish and Dakota were given an assignment, Cavendish suspected that Bob Block didn't really care about their work, but what he was most interested in was seeing how Dakota worked. When they weren't working, Bob Block was having his researchers look into how Dakota worked and functioned.

Their boss was treating Dakota like a fascinating tool, not a person, and Dakota didn't seem to care at all. Dakota acted like he was incredibly pleased with their new working situations, and Cavendish didn't understand it at all. He was already frustrated with his own situation, but looking at Dakota's situation made him feel even worse. It was horrible.

With every assignment they were given, Cavendish felt more and more frustrated. They were cleaning up after aliens, and Cavendish didn't even know what three quarters of the things they picked up did. Dakota knew what the alien trash was, but apparently he was unauthorized to talk about it. It was incredibly frustrating to work with, and Dakota frequently acted like everything was fine.

Cavendish tried to be optimistic, but it was difficult for him. Dakota was doing his very best though. He was even using his connection to Milo to try to convince the boy to stay away from their work, so Murphy's Law wouldn't get in the way. Considering how fond Dakota was of Milo, and how much he liked being around the boy, it was a touching sacrifice

Their days off were the best. That was when Cavendish could relax, Dakota wasn't bothered by P.I.G., and they didn't have anything they had to worry about. They could just enjoy each other's company.

Unfortunately, those days were few and far between. More often than not, Cavendish had to deal with his demeaning work. It was insultingly simple, and yet they still struggled with it. He tried to tolerate everything as best he could, but one day a straw finally broke the camel's back and Cavendish lost his patience.

Their assignment for the day had been a mistake. They'd spent hours cleaning up trash in a parking lot, only to be told that it wasn't alien trash that they'd been dealing with, but just regular human trash. It was humiliating, and Cavendish couldn't take it anymore.

Even worse was that Dakota had no sympathy for him. There was something going on with him, and neither of them knew what. Dakota suddenly became distracted and unfocused. If Cavendish didn't know any better, he would think that Dakota was being affected by something that caused Squips to malfunction, but they were just in the parking lot. Nothing in the area should affect a Squip. And Cavendish himself certainly couldn't feel a thing. Things that affected Squips actually affected the computer in the host's head. If something was happening, Cavendish really should feel it for himself.

Cavendish wanted to help Dakota, but then he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He focused his attention completely on what he saw and he couldn't help but stare in shock. It was an alien spaceship, and, wait a moment, was that a person being lifted into the spacecraft? Someone was being abducted. That was an emergency. This was far more important than the clean-up work that Bob Block wanted them to do.

"Dakota, are you seeing this?" Cavendish looked towards his partner, who was sitting and resting his head in his hands. "Dakota, what are you doing?" Cavendish walked to Dakota. He put a hand on his shoulder, only to pull back when he felt Dakota's form flicker. Something was definitely wrong. "Dakota!"

"Ugh, what?" Dakota groaned and looked up at Cavendish. He looked exhausted, not like himself at all.

Cavendish stared at Dakota for a moment before he remembered the urgency of the situation. "We may have a problem. There's been an alien abduction," Cavendish gestured behind him where he'd seen the spaceship, only to see that it wasn't there anymore.

Dakota stared blankly at where Cavendish was gesturing. "...Alright, I give up, what am I looking at?"

"I...I don't understand," Cavendish said. "I swear, I saw it," It took Cavendish a moment to realize that he actually knew a simple solution to convince Dakota. "You can access my memories and thoughts, can't you?"

"Uh, normally I'd say yes," Dakota said. "But right now I don't think I can do anything. My systems are going haywire." Cavendish didn't understand how that was possible. Dakota was his Squip, he was programmed into his mind, and yet he didn't feel anything. This seemed concerning, but what was also concerning was that Cavendish was confident that he'd seen someone be abducted. That had to be his priority right now.

"Maybe...maybe P.I.G. will have detected an alien spacecraft," Cavendish suggested desperately. They worked with aliens all the time, Cavendish couldn't imagine something as big as an alien abduction falling under their radar. "Yes, I'm sure they'll know. Let's go," Cavendish grabbed Dakota's arm and began to pull him along. There was no time to waste.

When they got to P.I.G. headquarters, at first they weren't allowed to see their boss, as the man was busy and he and Dakota weren't exactly top priority to most of the other agents. Cavendish knew just how he could get an appointment with Bob Block.

"My friend here is a Squip," Cavendish pulled Dakota slightly so he stood front and center. "He has been central to one of P.I.G.'s projects, and he's having some issues right now. If you would kindly tell our boss that Dakota seems to be malfunctioning, it would be greatly appreciated," Cavendish spoke with confidence, like the agent he was speaking to would be a fool to not bring him to Bob Block.

The agent called up their boss and a few minutes later, almost in record time, Bob Block came striding towards them. "Cavendish, Dakota, it's great to see you boys again so soon. Please, walk with me," Bob Block turned and led them deeper into the headquarters. Cavendish hurried to keep up with their boss. He had to pull Dakota behind him, because the Squip was really out of it. Cavendish wondered if Dakota was even aware of where they were.

"Sir, something happened earlier," Cavendish said.

"I bet," Bob Block stopped in his tracks and leaned closer to Dakota. He seemed to be studying him, though unlike Cavendish, Bob Block wasn't the least bit concerned. He looked as calm and collected as he usually did.

"No, sir, it's not that," Cavendish pulled Dakota away from Cavendish, both because he had something more urgent on his mind, and also because he didn't like the way that their boss was examining Dakota like he was just a tool that Bob Block wanted to know how it worked. "I saw an alien abduction."

"I know you want to impress me and do something worthwhile," Bob Block said slightly condescendingly. "But there have been no reports lately of spaceships anywhere near earth, let alone the practicing of unauthorized abductions,"

"Sir, I know what I saw," Cavendish insisted. "I…"

"What happened to Dakota?" Bob Block asked, like Cavendish had never mentioned the alien abduction. It was clear to Cavendish that he wasn't going to be getting any assistance from his boss, but he wasn't going to give up.

"I'm not sure, sir," Cavendish said honestly. "You know that Dakota is not just connected to me, but also to a boy. Perhaps something has happened on his end,"

"Milo?" Awareness finally returned to Dakota's eyes. He looked at Dakota in alarm. "What's wrong with Milo?"

"I don't know," Cavendish said gently before he turned to his boss. "Perhaps me and Dakota could go check up on him, just in case," Cavendish suggested.

"Yes," Bob Block agreed. "Do that, and report back to me as soon as you find anything. You know I don't like being left in the dark about anything,"

"Of course, sir," Cavendish said. "And, uh, if you have the time could you double check on that alien abduction,"

"Yes, yes, of course," Bob Block smiled at him, and while he seemed nice enough, Cavendish found it difficult to trust his reassurance. He would hope for the best, but assume the worst.

"Come on," Cavendish grabbed Dakota's arm and pulled him along. Dakota was still really distracted, but there was at least a sign of awareness in his eyes.

"Are we going to go see Milo?" Dakota asked slowly.

"Not at the moment," Cavendish said apologetically "I have some research to do,"

"But you said Milo might be in trouble," Dakota said urgently.

"I said nothing of the sort," Cavendish said sternly, but not unkindly. "I'm sure Milo will be just fine, but if someone has been abducted, I can't just leave that alone,"

"Wait...wait a second," Dakota stopped in his tracks, pulling Cavendish to stop as well. "Why are you so obsessed with saving a stranger who may or may not be in danger when someone we know might also be in trouble?"

"I can't in good consciousness leave someone in trouble," Cavendish said.

"You're wanting to leave Milo in trouble," Dakota said unhappily. Cavendish crossed his arms.

"Now who is obsessed?" Cavendish knew that Dakota seemed to care more about Milo than he did about anyone else. Cavendish sighed. They were going in circles now, and it wasn't doing them any good. "Dakota, aliens are our job,"

Dakota's expression darkened. "Our job...this is because you want to be acknowledged by our boss?"

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Cavendish said defensively. He shifted uncomfortably. "...And that's not the only reason,"

"Why do you care so much about what our boss thinks about you?" Dakota asked.

Cavendish didn't know why Dakota was even bothering to ask. He was in his head, he knew why. "I wanted to be respected," Cavendish said in a raised voice. "I want someone to look at me and recognize that I'm worth something,"

"I respect you," Dakota glared at Cavendish. "Milo and the other kids respect you,"

"Well, yes, but-" Cavendish began, but Dakota cut him off.

"But you don't care what we think about you," Dakota shoved his hands in his pockets. He flinched as his form flickered, but Dakota shook his head and pushed through it. "You want to be seen as important by someone who matters,"

"Dakota, that's not what I meant," Cavendish said as he felt his temper rising.

"No?" Dakota raised an eyebrow at him. "Then what is it?" Cavendish blinked. He knew there was more to it, but when he tried to think it through, he found himself at a loss. Dakota watched Cavendish for awhile before he finally shook his head and seemed to give up on expecting an answer. "Forget it, do what you want, I'm going to go find Milo," Dakota pulled away from Cavendish and began to make his way down the hallway. Cavendish was about to go after him when Dakota suddenly froze and his whole form glitched in a way that it definitely shouldn't.

"Dakota," Cavendish ran to his friend and put a hand against his arm. Dakota didn't react at all. Cavendish spun Dakota around so he could look him in the eyes, and something was definitely wrong. Dakota's eyes were both sparking, which wasn't unusual, but what really bothered Cavendish was that his orange eye looked much duller than it normally was. Dakota's eye was usually glowing, but right now it looked nearly lifeless.

"Dakota, what's wrong?" Cavendish asked. "What do I do?"

"...He's scared," Dakota said quietly. "I can't feel anything else from him,"

"...It's okay," Cavendish said. "I'm sure that Milo's fine,"

"But what if he's not?" Dakota asked desperately. It seemed Milo wasn't the only one that was scared. Cavendish understood Dakota's fears, but he thought that his partner was overreacting. Milo was a tough child, he was really strong and resourceful, he could handle himself. Cavendish was sure that by the time he and Dakota might find where Milo was, any danger he was in would have already passed.

Cavendish frowned and tightened his grip on Dakota's arm. This all felt incredibly wrong. Dakota wanted nothing more than to get to Milo and help him, and Cavendish didn't think there was a problem. Cavendish was still desperate to prove that he was worthwhile and could be a good agent, and Dakota just didn't understand it. They were in conflict with each other, and Cavendish just didn't think this was working.

If this was just the first time that they had such issues, Cavendish would think this was just a one time thing, but this seemed to be more of the rule than the exception. Cavendish liked being with Dakota, and he knew that Dakota felt the same way, but for what both of them needed and wanted with their lives at the moment, it didn't seem like they could get it with each other. They were just pulling each other in different directions, and neither of them were actually going anywhere.

"Dakota, I think we should go home," Cavendish said slowly. "You need to get some rest, and I have some things I need to think through."

Dakota blinked. There was a lot of unawareness in his eyes but finally he nodded. "Yeah, okay," Dakota said. Cavendish again began to pull Dakota along. He wasn't kidding, they really were going home, though Cavendish for one wasn't planning on staying for long.

On the way home, Cavendish thought things through. He had an idea of what he wanted to do, but he was hesitant. He'd already hurt Dakota once because he hadn't thought that they'd been good as partners, and he wasn't eager to do the same thing, but he didn't think they were good for each other, at least not right now.

Cavendish knew what he had to do, he just didn't want to.

When they got back to the apartment, Cavendish pulled Dakota in and pushed him gently onto the couch. Dakota blinked and looked around. "Oh...we're back,"

"Why don't you get some sleep?" Cavendish suggested. "You may feel better after you rest, and if Milo is feeling trouble with his Squip, he may do better if you're sleeping." Cavendish knew it was manipulative for him to say, but he was doing what he thought was best.

Dakota grinned slightly, closed his eyes, and leaned back. Cavendish waited tensely for a few minutes until he knew for sure that Dakota was in sleeping mode. Cavendish sighed and moved to the back of the apartment, where they kept an alien device they had gotten on one of their assignments.

One time they were sent to recover an alien amnesia device, and something that should have taken them five minutes took them all day. Cavendish had hated that assignment with a passion. The amnesia device had made him act like a fool, and somehow it was strong enough to not only mess with the memories of an organic being like a human, but also the memory database of a computer like Dakota. Not only had Dakota forgotten about the events that lead up to them finding the alien amnesia device, but he also seemed to forget hours more than Cavendish had, and he took longer to recover. For a few days, Cavendish had been sure that Dakota's systems were permanently damaged, and Bob Block had similar concerns. He'd put Dakota through all kinds of tests and trials to make sure that everything was okay before he was comfortable enough to give them more assignments.

Cavendish still didn't know exactly what the alien amnesia device did to Dakota, as he'd been influenced by it at the time as well. No permanent damage had happened last time though, and Cavendish had to trust that the same would be true this time. He had to believe that would be the case.

Cavendish pulled his glasses down over his eyes and aimed the device at Dakota. "I'm sorry," He said. "But this is for the best," Cavendish would say that to himself as many times as was necessary until he finally believed it.

Dakota didn't behave irrationally the way that Cavendish knew he had when he'd been under the influence of the alien amnesia device. He just seemed to sleep. Cavendish wondered for a moment if the device had failed, but he had seen it activate. Perhaps the device wasn't working quite the same because Dakota was asleep.

Cavendish wanted to leave, because if he was going to leave Dakota behind the very least he could do was accomplish what he was setting out to do. If he could prove that someone had been abducted, especially if he could save them, then all of this would be worthwhile. It had to be.

Cavendish sat down at the desk and took his hat off. He pulled off his hat and set it upside down on the desk. He opened the desk drawer and pulled out a small magnet and some tape. Cavendish put the magnet in the hat and used the tape to secure it in place. He'd heard somewhere that if an agent wanted some privacy from their Squip, they could use a simple magnet like this near the computer.

Cavendish didn't know for sure that this would work, but he had to at least try it. If Dakota woke up in a few hours and saw that Cavendish wasn't there, he would be desperate to go find him. Their connection would make it all too easy for Dakota to find him, which would defeat the purpose of Cavendish leaving.

Cavendish didn't want to mess with Dakota's systems, which was why he was careful to keep the magnet at a fair distance from his mind. He didn't want to scramble Dakota's hardwares, just confuse them a little bit, just enough for him to not be found. Cavendish was sure that in the long run, Dakota would be all right, even with the magnet. Afterall, he still had Milo's computer hardware to rely on. Cavendish knew that Dakota didn't need him.

After getting the magnet situated, Cavendish put his hat on. He watched Dakota carefully for a moment and let out a breath of relief when he didn't see his friend's form so much as flicker. There was no rainbow colored glitching. The magnet wasn't too powerful. Dakota would be alright.

Cavendish straightened his jacket and, with one last look towards his partner, he walked out the door.

* * *

Five hours later, that evening across town Milo, who was just calming down from his adventure with aliens that he'd had that day, cried out in pain when he felt a sudden, searing feeling in his head. It almost felt like his head was burning open.

"Milo?" He felt Sara put a hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

"I...I don't know," Milo took a deep breath, wincing as he rubbed his head. The pain hadn't gotten better, but he was a little more used to it, and Milo had always had a high tolerance for pain. Milo realized that he was familiar with at least the location of the pain. "Something's up with Dakota,"

A moment later, Milo heard a voice in his head that sounded really similar to Dakota's, except there was something really weird about it, something wrong.

' _ **SYSTEM REBOOTING.'**_

* * *

 **A/N:** **Just when I got Cavendish to be a decent person again after trying to delete Dakota, I have him go and do this. He's just an interesting character, so fascinating to write. I hope I was able to give Cavendish a decently reasonable explanation.**

 **On another note, I'm looking forward to what I'm writing later. Let me ask you guys, do you know what can sometimes happen when you take a glitchy or slow computer and restart or reboot it?**

 **You may just be able to fix it.**


	23. Chapter 23

Something was wrong with Dakota.

Milo was terrified. He didn't know what was wrong. His head was hurting slightly, but Milo thought that was just lingering from when he'd been abducted by the Octalians. Milo's head had been bothering him since he got on the ship. When Milo had asked the alien commander about it, she only had a guess about what had happened. She didn't know a lot about Squips, but she said that it wasn't uncommon for alien technology to interfere with human technology.

Dakota may be from the future, but to Milo's knowledge Squips were definitely human in design. And Milo knew that there were things that could cause trouble for a Squip.

Milo felt horrible for awhile, thinking that whatever was going on with Dakota was his fault, but then he'd remembered how he had felt when they'd gone back to the past and ran into the pistachions again. Milo had barely been able to function at all. Now his head just barely hurt, but he somehow had a horrible feeling about this whole thing. Milo may be okay, but Dakota definitely wasn't, and Milo needed to figure out what was going on.

When Milo tried to communicate with Dakota, he wasn't able to get a clear answer. He just heard the voice that wasn't quite Dakota's say 'system reboot, please stand by'. Milo couldn't get any information from Dakota, so he had to go looking for the information himself.

Milo went into the kitchen, looking for his parents, but the only one he found was Dr. Doofenshmirtz. Milo looked around, as though hoping to see his parents ducking under the counters or hiding behind the door. Dr. Doofenshmirtz watched him curiously.

"What are you looking for?" Dr. Doofenshmirtz asked.

"My parents," Milo said simply. "I think Dakota's in trouble, and I want to go find him."

"Mom's out and Dad's still at work," Sara said as she came into the kitchen behind Milo. "If you're that worried about Dakota, I can drive you," Milo relaxed slightly. He would like that.

"We've gotta go," Milo grabbed Sara's hand and pulled her towards the front door. Before leaving he looked back towards Dr. Doofenshmirtz. "If our parents call or come back, can you tell them where we went?"

"Oh, yeah, I'll take care of it," Dr. Doofenshmirtz waved them off. Milo and Sara went outside and got into her car, which she always forgot to bring into the garage. Milo didn't know for sure where Dakota was, but he saw no problem with checking Cavendish and Dakota's apartment. If Dakota wasn't there, Milo would be able to figure out where to go next.

Sara followed Milo's directions to get to the apartment. The moment that Sara stopped the car Milo jumped out and ran up the steps to their apartment. Milo never really thought about entering someone's home without knocking or being invited first, but he was way too concerned about Dakota to worry about being rude.

Milo tried to open the door and frowned when it worked. Doors shouldn't be left unlocked. Milo went inside and immediately found Dakota lying on the couch. He looked like he was sleeping, but Milo knew that wasn't all. Something more was going on.

Milo went closer to Dakota and nudged his shoulder slightly. Milo immediately felt a spark go through his head. Dakota opened his eyes and just stared at him blankly. Milo wanted to say something, but anything he was planning on saying went away in an instant when he saw Dakota's eyes. Even when Dakota was wearing his dark glasses, Milo could tell that they looked much darker than usual.

Suddenly getting a sense of dread, Milo grabbed Dakota's glasses and took them off. What he saw made him feel nearly sick. Dakota had always had interesting eyes. One was brown, one was a kind of glowing orange. Now though, they were both a mix of the two colors. Dakota's eyes were both brown, except for just around the pupil, where it was orange, looking like electricity.

Dakota blinked and sat up. His expression was strangely blank, and Milo really didn't like it. "Milo Murphy. I apologize for any inconvenience, but the Squip system is still rebooting." Dakota's tone sounded really robotic and automatic. Milo didn't like it. This wasn't his friend.

"When will the reboot finish?" Milo asked. Dakota blinked and frowned slightly.

"Not sure," Dakota said. "It should be finished by now, but it's taking longer than usual?"

"Is it because of Murphy's Law?" Milo asked. "Or maybe it's because you're connected to both me and Cavendish, so that's two systems you're trying to work through at the same time?"

"Cavendish," Dakota's eyes flared slightly, similar to the way they did when he got particularly emotional, but the rest of Dakota's face was still practically emotionless. "Yes, there are some complications with Cavendish's systems. I can't reach them, and I don't know why." Dakota scowled, and though it was a little more emotion than he'd been showing before, it made Milo feel really uneasy. Whatever was going on with Dakota, it had something to do with Cavendish.

"Hey, Milo, is everything okay in here?" Sara asked as she entered the apartment. She stopped when she saw Dakota's scowl and Milo's unease. "What's going on?"

"I don't know," Milo looked at Dakota. "What caused your systems to reboot?"

"I...don't know," Dakota said slowly. "Your memories show that you had an encounter with aliens...oh," Dakota looked around in unease. "I remember, Cavendish claimed to have seen an alien abduction. That must have been you,"

"Did the alien technology cause this?" Milo asked cautiously. Dakota shook his head.

"No, it messed with the systems, but otherwise it was harmless," Dakota said. "Something else caused the reboot. Considering I can't connect with Cavendish's systems, it was probably on his end." Milo felt absolutely horrible about it, but his first assumption was that Cavendish had done something horrible, and that he'd done it on purpose. Milo liked Cavendish, and he didn't want to assume the worst of him, but he'd already hurt Dakota really badly. Who was to say that he hadn't done it again in an attempt to do what he thought was the right thing?

"Did you two have another fight?" Milo asked.

"I don't know," Dakot said. "My memories from yesterday are all over the place. Your Squip was interfered with, because of the aliens, and Cavendish...Cavendish." Dakota's eyes sparked again. "Something's cutting into my connection with him, and it's confusing my connection with you. I need to cut my connection with him."

Milo looked at Dakota uneasily. "You're just cutting it...just like that?" When Dakota had temporarily paused his connection with Milo, he had asked about it first, made sure that it was okay first. It really bothered Milo that Dakota wasn't asking Cavendish about it first.

On its own, Dakota not asking permission wasn't that big a deal, but when combined with how Dakota's eyes looked now, and his weird, just shy of monotone way of speaking, it was just another sign that something was really wrong.

"What...what's wrong with you?" Milo asked quietly. Dakota looked at him sternly and Milo felt stiff and uncomfortable under his gaze. He really didn't like this.

"Milo, you can't just say something like that," Sara scolded him. Dakota didn't seem bothered by the question, which just bothered Milo even more.

"Nothing's wrong with me," Dakota said evenly. "Actually, I'm better than I've ever been." He definitely didn't sound okay, let alone better than ever. "My systems were flawed before, but the reboot was just what I needed."

Milo froze. "I...what?" Milo was scared, almost as scared as he'd been when he'd learned that Cavendish had turned Dakota's systems off. "What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean," Dakota looked unamused. "My systems aren't perfect right now, and unfortunately they may never be, but the reboot has at least calmed my glitchy systems."

"But...your defectiveness made you _you,"_ Milo objected. "I don't _want_ you to be different."

"I'm still me, Milo," Dakota said, though Milo was unconvinced. "I'm just not as flawed. Not as emotional."

"Emotions aren't a bad thing," Milo said desperately. Dakota just blinked.

"Computers aren't supposed to have emotions," Dakota said. "If they did, I imagine you would refuse to have a cellphone, considering how easily they break for you,"

"That...that's different," Milo felt slightly ill at the thought of all of the computers and other technology that regularly malfunctioned around him being alive and having emotions. Dakota was right, Milo would be really hesitant to even think about going anywhere near anything technological if he thought he could hurt anybody.

"How?" Dakota asked. "Is it because I can talk? Because I look human?"

"No, I just...I don't know," Milo was feeling more and more uncomfortable the longer he was talking to Dakota. He didn't like this at all.

"Okay why don't we all just calm down," Sara put a hand on Milo's shoulder reassuringly. She looked at Dakota. "I'm sorry, he's just scared,"

"Oh, I know how Milo feels," Dakota says. "I'm in his mind,"

"He's just...used to you being a certain way," Sara continued. She was being much calmer about everything than Milo was.

"People change," Dakota said. "And computers upgrade,"

"Can't you just change back?" Milo asked.

"You...want me to be defective?" Dakota aske, for the first time showing emotion. He actually looked confused.

"I want you to be back to normal," Milo said. "And I mean your normal, not Squip normal,"

"I'm not Squip normal," Dakota said. His eyes flared orange slightly. "My programming is all mixed up and in the wrong order." Dakota closed his eyes and put his hands in his pockets. "No amount of reboots will fix me completely."

"You don't need fixing," Milo began to say, but Sara interrupted him.

"What if you get someone to look at your programming?" Sara suggested. "Computers get reprogrammed all the time, you just need someone who knows what they're doing."

"People in this time period don't understand Squip technology," Dakota said. His eyes widened at the same time as Milo thought of something. Milo didn't know just which of them thought of the idea first.

"Maybe Dr. Doofenshmirtz can figure out how to go through your programming," Milo said eagerly. "He can fix this."

Dakota fixed Milo with a stern look. "Fix what my reboot did, or fix what my reboot couldn't?"

"...Fix what your reboot couldn't," Milo said. As far as he was concerned, it wasn't a lie. A reboot really couldn't fix something that wasn't actually broken.

Dakota sighed. "Do _you_ want me to get fixed by Doofenshmirtz?" Milo paused at that question. He'd heard extremely similar questions from Dakota before. Milo always hated it when Dakota asked what he wanted from him, because that wasn't what Milo wanted. Dakota was supposed to be his own person. Milo thought they had gotten over the whole Dakota basing his desires off of what Milo wanted.

Still, Milo was positive that Dakota, at least, _his_ Dakota, wouldn't want to be like this. Maybe this rebooted Dakota was back to asking what Milo wanted, and it may be wrong to take advantage of that, but if it got his friend back, was it really that bad?

"Yeah," Milo said quietly. "It's what I want."

Dakota's face slipped into a slight grin. He was looking more and more like his old self, but Milo still felt uneasy about it. He didn't know if this was Dakota actually expressing himself, or if he was just putting on a mask because he knew this was how Milo felt most comfortable with him. "Then let's give this a try."

Dakota followed Sara and Milo out to the car. Milo quickly made his way to the seat in the front, right next to Sara. Milo usually liked to sit with his friends, but he felt uneasy being so close to Dakota right now, or even talking to him. To avoid striking up conversation, Milo got out his cellphone and called the house.

"Hello?" Doofenshmirtz answered almost immediately.

"Hey, Dr. Doofenshmirtz, we found Dakota," Milo said. "He's having some system issues though. Do you want to take a look at him?"

"Look at the programming of a time traveling super computer?" Milo could hear the grin in Dr. Doofenshmirtz' voice. "You don't even have to ask. Bring him over."

"Thanks," Milo said appreciatively. "We'll be back in a few minutes,"

"I'll be in the lab," Doofenshmirtz said, speaking of the shack in their background. It used to serve as an office for Milo's mom, but since Doofenshmirtz had started staying with them, it had become his space.

Doofenshmirtz hung up with a proper goodbye, like he did half the time. He frequently seemed to forget his phone manners, but Milo didn't really feel like trying to correct him.

Without having Doofenshmirtz to talk to and distract him, Milo was forced to confront the elephant in the room, or the Squip in the van.

' _You don't have to try to talk to me,'_ Dakota's voice said in his head. Milo's eyes widened in alarm and he looked behind him to see Dakota staring at him blankly. ' _I know you don't like me right now.'_ Milo flinched. He felt a little weird around Dakota right now, but it wasn't as thought he actually didn't like him, he just missed the old Dakota.

' _I just feel like I don't know you,'_ Milo thought back.

' _That's fair,'_ Dakota responded, and that was it. Nothing more was said for the rest of the drive. Milo felt awkward and anxious, and he knew that Sara was worried about him, but that nervousness went unspoken. When they got back to the house, Milo took a deep breath and got out of the car. He led Dakota to the backyard.

"Dr. Doofenshmirtz, we're here," Milo called out as he went to the shed and pushed the door open. Doofenshmirtz was there, pushing boxes aside and making room.

Doofenshmirtz looked up, focusing his excited gaze on Dakota. "Alright, what's going on here?" Doofenshmirtz didn't seem nearly as upset about this new development as Milo was. This could be because Doofenshmirtz just didn't know the full extent of Dakota's new behavior, but Milo had the feeling that it was more because he was fascinated by the very concept of working with a Squip.

"Dakota's not acting like himself," Milo said. "He says he's been rebooted, and that it 'fixed' some of his glitchiness, but his glitchiness was what made him Dakota, and I just want him back to normal," Milo said. Dakota glanced at Dakota out of the corner of his eye, looking very annoyed. It took Milo a moment to realize that he'd told Dakota that they were going to Doofenshmirtz specifically to fix his glitchiness, not bring it back. Milo couldn't bring himself to be apologetic though. He needed his friend back. He wasn't going to be sorry for that.

"Do you think you can help?" Milo asked.

"I'll see what I can do," Doofenshmirtz said. "I'll do my best to not cause him to self-destruct." It sounded like a joke, but Doofenshmirtz said it so seriously that Milo felt more unnerved than earlier.

"Yeah, please don't blow Dakota up," Milo said uneasily. "I'll, uh, leave you to work," Milo began to step back towards the exit. Doofenshmirtz watched him curiously. Dakota didn't even look at him.

"You don't want to stay and help?" Doofenshmirtz asked.

"Maybe later," Milo said with a small smile, but the thought of working with them made him feel a little ill. He didn't actually want to mess with Dakota's systems, and he didn't want to be around this Dakota that was almost like a shadow of the Dakota that he knew. Milo just wanted his friend back, and hopefully Doofenshmirtz could help to bring him back.

* * *

 **A/N:** **This chapter feels really weird. The whole basis of the chapter is Milo has noticed how different Dakota is, but I feel like I didn't actually show just how different Dakota is. It's a little hard to show how Dakota's thought process is different when the chapter's not in his point of view, so hopefully it works okay and doesn't feel like Milo is making a big deal out of nothing.**

 **I'm also a little worried that Milo is out of character, but while he's a really kind and open-minded kid, he's still just a kid. It can be really terrifying if someone you know suddenly starts to act like someone that you barely recognize.**

 **Also, you know, we're back to that reoccurring theme of everybody treating Dakota like someone who isn't really human.**


	24. Chapter 24

"Okay!" Doofenshmirtz proclaimed as he looked Dakota over. "I...have no idea what I'm doing now," Dakota frowned as he sat down on a desk that Doofenshmirtz had previously cleared off. "I don't know a lot about what your programming was before, let alone what it's like now, or how to fix it."

Dakota's facial expression didn't change. He wasn't exactly annoyed, but he felt _something_ when he heard that word. Fix. He wasn't broken. His systems may not be perfect, but they were doing a lot better than they were before. He was closer to how a proper Squip should be, and yet Milo wasn't happy with it.

Dakota understood why Milo was having a hard time with this situation, but he still didn't like it. Milo had gotten so used to Dakota as he had been, he refused to see that just because he was different didn't mean that he was a different Squip. The reboot had adjusted his systems, not changed them completely.

Dakota disagreed with Milo's goal of trying to change him back to the way he was before, but he wasn't going to fight him on it. If this was what Milo wanted, Dakota would go along with it. That was one thing about his programming that definitely hadn't changed.

"Do you have a flash drive and computer?" Dakota asked.

"Oh, yeah, here," Doofenshmirtz pulled a flash drive out of his inner coat pocket and handed it to Dakota. The scientist then went to a box and pulled out a beat up looking laptop. Doofenshmirtz set it on the desk next to Dakota and opened it. "Milo loaned this to me...Well, actually, he broke it and said I could use it for parts, but I realized that it still works just fine, it just won't work for him."

"Sounds about right," Dakota felt the flash in his eyes flare out as he downloaded a copy of his basic programming systems onto the flash drive. He put the flash drive into the laptop and found a coding program. He turned the laptop towards Doofenshmirtz. "Do you know how to work this?"

"Is that your coding?" Doofenshmirtz pulled up a chair and leaned close to the computer. "Weird. It looks like a mix of common codes and strange ones that I've never seen before. And...wait, is that Japanese?" Doofenshmirtz picked up the laptop to get a better look.

"I'm not surprised," Dakota commented. "Squips originated from Japan,"

"Well, yeah, but coding is a language on its own," Doofenshmirtz held the laptop upside down, as though it would help him to understand it better. "Spoken language isn't really used in coding itself. I would be confused if I saw English in here too, except I'd at least be able to understand what it was trying to say."

Dakota looked over Doofenshmirtz' shoulder. "Oh, that word basically means task or function." Dakota pointed to a set of characters. He then pointed to another set. "That one's restrictions or limitations. I don't know if it's saying what limitations a Squip has, like, what kinds of things can shut them off, or if it's restricting the kinds of things that a Squip can do,"

Doofenshmirtz looked at Dakota curiously. "Can't you read this stuff?"

"Not really," Dakota said. "After a couple of incidents when Squips were in beta stage, they somehow made it so that a Squip couldn't change their own programming. They didn't want Squips to get too powerful. I know coding, but looking at my own, it won't translate into the proper information. I can understand the Japanese, but everything else just looks like a mess of unrelated pieces."

"Mess of unrelated pieces sounds like a good description," Doofenshmirtz grabbed a notebook and handed it to Dakota. "Here, write down the English translations of the Japanese characters." Doofenshmirtz set down the laptop and moved to his boxes again. "Somehow, I think your coding is done with a couple of different programming languages. I think I have some coding books in here, so I can check."

"Checking is good," Dakota quickly began to do what Doofenshmirtz had requested. His memory records showed that Heinz Doofenshmirtz wasn't exactly known for being a slow, steady, and thorough man when it came to his work, but this wasn't the first time that he was known to put in the effort to make sure that he got things right the first time.

Dakota worked in silence, writing down and translating the Japanese. Doofenshmirtz muttered to himself as he went through his books. The two of them worked separately for more than an hour before Doofenshmirtz brought his books and notes over to Dakota and spread them out all over the counter.

"Okay, I think I'm ready to actually figure out what your coding says," Doofenshmirtz said. He took the computer from Dakota and began to look from the screen, to his notes, to Dakota's notes. "It's going to take some time though."

"Hey, there's no rush," Dakota assured him. Doofenshmirtz glanced up at him before focusing on the screen again.

"You don't seem all that interested in fixing your systems." Doofenshmirtz commented. He looked from the screen to his notes, working as he talked. "What's Milo's rush, anyways? I would be thrilled if Norm went through a system's upgrade." Dakota grinned. At least Doofenshmirtz appreciated what a nice reboot could feel like.

"I'm pretty sure Milo's more emotionally invested in me than you are in Norm," Dakota had met Doofenshmirtz' robot, and was slightly impressed at the primitive, but surprisingly effective and sturdy, robot. "As far as he's concerned, I'm a completely different Squip."

"Are you?" Doofenshmirtz asked.

Dakota had to consider it for a moment. This was a personal question, and they weren't the kind of things that Squips were very good at. And though it had only been a little bit since he'd gone through the reboot, he had a hard time imagining himself being content without it. But just a few hours ago, he probably wouldn't have thought he would feel fine with it.

Dakota mentally scolded himself. He wasn't supposed to have feelings, and he especially wasn't supposed to sit around and think about them. Especially since Doofenshmirtz' question, while a personal one, didn't exactly relate to emotions. He had to get a hold of himself.

"I'm different," Dakota confirmed. "But I don't know just _how_ different." He would have to wait a little longer, until he could properly observe his instinctive mannerisms, to know exactly what the differences were.

"We can figure that out," Doofenshmirtz opened up a new, blank, coding page. "Do you remember what your original programming looks like?"

Dakota frowned. "It should look the same," Coding shouldn't be able to change just because of a reboot. When Dakota was asked that question though, he automatically reached into his memory systems and looked for a record of his old coding from the previous day. It felt the same, but if Doofenshmirtz wanted to take a look, Dakota wasn't about to stop him. "Hang on,"

Dakota put his hand over the laptop's input ports and sent the information he'd found to the computer. Doofenshmirtz yelped slightly in shock when he saw the second coding page suddenly fill itself with information.

"Oh, okay, that works," Doofenshmirtz began to compare the two programs, line by line. Dakota watched him for a moment before deciding that there had to be a more efficient way of doing this. Dakota put his hand over the input ports again and essentially told the computer to compare and contrast the two coding programs. If there were any differences, the computer would find and highlight them for him.

Dakota thought that he would just be proving a point, quickly showing Doofenshmirtz that there was no difference between them. Most of the coding was identical, like Dakota thought, but then the screen highlighted just part of the ending, the part just after the Japanese characters for function or task.

Doofenshmirtzz hummed an odd tune to himself as he happily looked over the codes. Almost immediately Doofenshmirtz seemed to find something. "Oh, I think I found the problem," Doofenshmirtz pointed to the highlighted lines of the programs. "See, these lines are switched. This bottom line in the new coding is the top one in the other,"

Dakota frowned. "But...that can change the nature of a program completely. A simple reboot shouldn't be able to do that."

"Well, what caused the reboot?" Doofenshmirtz asked. "Reboots aren't supposed to happen by themselves."

"I don't know," Dakota admitted. "Cavendish did _something_. I think it upset my systems so much that I automatically rebooted."

"We'll have to ask him about that," Doofenshmirtz said. "But there's more to these changes." Doofenshmirtz showed Dakota one particular part of the coding. "See, that is an if/then statement. It's _in_ the original coding, but it looks like in that one it was written in invisible coding or something. We can see it, but the computer doesn't. So instead of the computer only following the coding if a certain situation happens, it always follows it."

"But in the new coding, the condition is followed," Dakota said. "What does that line of code make me do?" It seemed like this particular code was one of Dakota's functions. Could just one function make him seem so different to Milo?

"I'm not sure," Doofenshmirtz looked at the program with fascinated curiosity. "I'm going to figure it out though,"

* * *

 **A/N:** **I wasn't planning on stopping this chapter here. I was planning on having just the one chapter of Dakota and Doofenshmirtz kinda just chilling and trying to figure stuff out, but I'll probably end up making it two, with the next chapter being from Doof's point of view.**

 **This chapter's a lot shorter than I would like, but I just can't write any more. It's just really not wanting to be written. I don't know if it's because I'm not sure how to write from the changed Dakota's point of view, if I feel like it's getting repetitive, if I'm worried that there's too much coding talk for it to make sense, if I'm starting to get burned out from writing this story (I'm not giving up on it, don't you worry about that, it's just...a lot longer than I expected, especially when compared to my other Milo Murphy's Law stories), or maybe it's just a combination of everything. I could continue to work on this chapter, but in my experience, when I feel like I'm done with a chapter, I'm done with it, and it's time to move on to the next one. Hopefully it will cooperate better with me.**


	25. Chapter 25

Working with Dakota and trying to figure out his data structures, it was interesting, and challenging, which made it even more interesting. Doofenshmirtz had a lot of fun with it, but it was still tedious and really tiring sometimes. He was a hard worker, but there was only so long he could work on trying to figure out what was going on with Dakota before he got bored of it. He frequently had to take breaks, or else he would probably get careless and misunderstand something and make mistakes. Dakota's systems were so complicated, and the Squip wasn't exactly your every day computer. Doofenshmirtz never really tried to screw up his -inators, but he had to be especially careful to keep anything bad from happening.

Doofenshmirtz had thought that Milo and Dakota would push for him to keep working on the coding, but neither of them had said a word about his frequent and long breaks. Milo was the one who was insistent that Dakota was 'fixed', but ever since Doofenshmirtz had been working on the coding, he'd been seeing Milo less and less. He knew the boy had his friends that he wanted to be with, but Doofenshmirtz thought that Milo's rushed excuses as he ran out the door were just that, excuses. He was looking for reasons to be out of the house as much as possible, and Doofenshmirtz hadn't understood why until he'd noticed that Dakota only ever came into the house after Milo had already left. It almost seemed like they were avoiding each other.

At one of the times when Doofenshmirtz was taking a break, he decided to ask Dakota what was going on with him and Milo. He knew it wasn't exactly his place, but Doofenshmirtz had never let that stop him before.

Dakota frowned slightly and leaned back. "I'm just giving Milo space. He doesn't want to see me like this, so I'm trying to make sure he doesn't."

Doofenshmirtz frowned. This all felt incredibly wrong to him. "You don't want to ignore Milo though, do you?" Before Dakota could answer, Doofenshmirtz continued. "Forget for a second about what Milo wants, I'm talking about what _you_ want. _You_ do not want to avoid Milo." It wasn't even a question, Doofenshmirtz was stating a fact.

"It doesn't matter what I want," Dakota said impatiently, his eyes sparking behind his glasses. "I want whatever Milo wants."

Doofenshmirtz frowned. Dakota's words seemed to strike a chord in his head, but he wasn't sure what it meant. It was right at the edge of his mind, and Doofenshmirtz thought he was about to find it when he heard a knock on the shed door. "Who is it?" He called out.

"It's just me, Dr. D," Sara let herself in. She held up a letter. "This arrived in the mail for you. It says it's from...Perry the Platypus?" Sara squinted at the letter. "I don't know if I'd be more concerned if this was a person whose last name is Platypus, or if this was an actual platypus writing to you."

"Of course he's an actual platypus," Doofenshmirtz scowled, both because of the letter itself, and because of Sara's words. Who had ever heard of someone with the name Platypus? That was just ridiculous. Doofenshmirtz glared at the letter. "Throw it away, I don't want to read it." Doofenshmirtz turned back to his computer. He'd been sure that he was close to a breakthrough before Sara came in. Maybe if he looked at the coding deep enough he would be able to remember what he hadn't quite realized before.

Dakota moved towards Sara and accepted the note from her. "I'll talk to him." Doofenshmirtz glanced back towards Dakota. He didn't want a supercomputer to try to act like his therapist. He got enough of that behavior from Norm, he didn't need it from Dakota as well.

"Whatever," Sara shrugged. She left the shed, closing the door behind her. Once she was gone, Dakota turned towards Doofenshmirtz and put the letter down on the desk. Doofenshmirtz was determined to not even look at it.

"What's with the animosity?" Dakota asked. "I thought you two had been working together since you left evil."

"Working together," Doofenshmirtz scoffed. That was a joke. "Perry the Platypus only hangs out with me because he thinks I need babysitting, because it's his job." Doofenshmirtz stared intently at the computer screen without really seeing or understanding it. "He doesn't think I have what it takes to be good." Perry the Platypus didn't trust him, and that stung. Doofenshmirtz expected this kind of thing from Francis, but Perry the Platypus? He thought they knew each other better than this.

Dakota looked down at the unopened letter. "That's not right."

"No, it's not," Doofenshmirtz agreed completely. "I may not be a perfect guy, but I'm not the only person that makes mistakes. Even Perry the Platypus messes things up sometimes."

"No, I mean _you're_ wrong," Dakota said. Doofenshmirtz looked at him in shock, thinking that Dakota must be misunderstanding something, except he looked so confident, so sure, that this was just another piece of information. "Perry the Platypus wouldn't be investing in you and your work if he didn't think you had what it took."

Doofenshmirtz started. "What...investing in...what?!"

Dakota blinked. "You don't know?" He grabbed the laptop from Doofenshmirtz and began to pull something up. Doofenshmirtz looked over Dakota's shoulder and was shocked when it looked like Dakota was pulling up bank records...Perry the Platypus' bank records.

"That can't be legal," Doofenshmirtz said, but he didn't look away. He was curious. He knew that being an O.W.C.A agent was Perry the Platypus' job, but he hadn't actually thought that he got paid for it. Doofenshmirtz knew that O.W.C.A didn't pay their interns, it wasn't that big of a leap to think that they didn't pay their agents either. What did animals even have to spend money on? Many of the agents were pets.

"Look at this," Dakota pointed out the recent transfers from Perry the Platypus' account. He seemed to have sent out checks made out to Professor Time Industries, and there were a few times that he had deposited cash.. It took Doofenshmirtz a long moment to realize just what that meant.

"Wait, I'm Professor Time," Doofenshmirtz leaned closer, half expecting the information to change up on him. "He's...he's setting money aside for me?" And it wasn't just a few dozen dollars either. In total, the amount of money that Perry the Platypus had deposited into this side account was $50,000. That kind of money could go a long way.

Doofenshmirtz looked at the letter on the counter. He hesitated for a moment before he decided to open up the envelope and pull out the card inside. It was a simple apology card, and just moments ago Doofenshmirtz would have brushed it aside and not considered it sincere or worth his attention, but now he wasn't so sure. Perry the Platypus didn't send cards to just anybody, and he could tell that this was from Perry the Platypus, not some silly thing from O.W.C.A.. And Doofenshmirtz couldn't forget what he had seen, what Perry the Platypus was doing for him. Perry the Platypus was helping him, giving up so much for his sake, and yet he was still apologizing for hurting his feelings.

Perry the Platypus may be fairly closed up with his feelings, but when he let his guard down, he did it sincerely.

"I have to talk to him," Doofenshmirtz decided. He took the laptop from Dakota and closed it. He put it into a bag, along with his coding books and notes. He still had that bit of information that was just outside his reach. If he remembered it while he was talking to Perry the Platypus, he wanted to be able to write it out or take note of it while he could.

"Hang on," Dakota closed his eyes. "Perry the Platypus' owners don't know he's an agent, so if you go showing up at his house, you're going to have a hard time explaining why you want to talk to their pet." Dakota opened his eyes. "I sent a message to Perry the Platypus' communicator, told him you're ready to talk to him, and that he should meet you at Danville park."

Doofenshmirtz looked at Dakota in shock. "You only had your eyes closed for, like, a second, and you were able to say that much so quickly?"

Dakota smirked. "Squips aren't just really efficient, they're really fast too. I can process and transfer information faster than you can blink."

"Okay, now I really have to figure out what makes you tick," Doofenshmirtz felt a rush of curiosity. The kind of science that he was most interested in were his own inventions and -inators, but that didn't mean that he wasn't intrigued by the work that other people did. He loved to steal ideas from other scientists.

"You've got my coding at your fingertips," Dakota said. "As for what a general Squip can do, I'm more than able to tell you that stuff."

"Later," Doofenshmirtz said, albeit somewhat reluctantly. Why did he only think of talking to Dakota when he had other things that claimed top priority? "First I have to talk things out with Perry the Platypus, and then we need to get back to work on figuring out your coding." He felt like they were _this_ close to figuring out what the coding was saying, and after that all Doofenshmirtz had to do was put some changes into Dakota''s new coding and have him download it again.

Doofenshmirtz had considered just copying Dakota's old coding onto his new one and hoped that would fix the problem, but there was no guarantee it would work. Doofenshmirtz may sometimes be willing to do things without fully understanding it, just going with the flow and see what happens, but he couldn't afford to do that this time. For all Doofenshmirtz knew, it had been Dakota's old coding that had caused him to reboot and 'fixing' it might just cause him to glitch and reboot all over again, putting them right back where they started. No, Doofenshmirtz wasn't going to be making any changes until he understood exactly what those changes were.

Doofenshmirtz wondered briefly if he should talk to Perry the Platypus on his own, except he was slightly nervous to do so, which just made him frustrated with himself and Perry the Platypus. He knew that Perry the Platypus was trying to help him, but he'd been hurt by his nemesis, and even if the reason for that hurt wasn't there, that didn't mean that the feelings themselves weren't real.

"Do you...can you understand what Perry the Platypus says?" Doofenshmirtz asked. He really didn't know what he expected of the super computer.

"I have been programmed to understand all animals," Dakota said. "You want me to come translate for you?"

"I don't normally need a translator with Perry the Platypus," Doofenshmirtz said. He was usually able to get the gist of what Perry the Platypus was saying through context, but that didn't feel like nearly enough for this particular conversation. He wanted to understand exactly what Perry the Platypus had to say to him. "This time though, if you'd be willing, I would appreciate a translator...and a friend there as support."

"I can translate, no problem," Dakota said. "I'm not exactly the best emotional support though, but I'll give it a try." Just the fact that Dakota was trying, it didn't matter how bad he was at it, he was automatically better at emotional support than Doofenshmirtz' entire family, save for his daughter.

"That's fine," Doofenshmirtz assured him. He grabbed Dakota's arm and pulled him out the shed door. "All you'll have to do is listen to me rant or possibly monologue when we're done."

"Oh," Dakota grinned. "Yeah, I can do that." Dakota cooperated with Doofenshmirtz and let the man pull him along. They passed Brigette Murphy as they left the yard. She gave Dakota a concerned look as they passed, but she didn't try to stop and talk to them. Doofenshmirtz looked at Dakota in confusion.

"Mom always seems worried about you." Doofenshmirtz commented.

"She doesn't know I'm a Squip," Dakota said. "When I first connected with Milo, our story was that I had been hurt by my partner, my partner being Cavendish. When I reconnected with Cavendish and started hanging out with him again, I guess Brigette and Martin thought that I got back together with my abusive partner."

"That's 'cause you did," Doofenshmirtz said automatically. From what he'd seen of Dakota and Cavendish's interactions, they certainly seemed to work well together, but what he heard about it told a different story. Cavendish had tried to delete Dakota's programming, and then he'd done something that had changed Dakota's whole structure and adjusted his personality completely. Partners weren't supposed to do things like that.

Dakota gave Doofenshmirtz a cold look and the man shrugged. "Right, sorry, continue," Doofenshmirtz still thought that Cavendish maybe wasn't the best partner, but that wasn't what they were talking about right now, and Doofenshmirtz didn't want to fight about it.

"Anyways, they don't know what happened between me and Cav this time, but they know I'm acting differently, and they can tell it's because of something he's done, so they're a little protective I guess."

Doofenshmirtz nodded. In his experience, Milo and Sara's parents had gotten into the habit of acting like a parent to everybody. It was why Doofenshmirtz frequently referred to them as Mom and Dad. He knew that they weren't his parents, but they still treated him in a way that he wished his parents would. It seemed they were doing the same thing for Dakota.

Doofenshmirtz still wasn't quite used to Milo's neighborhood and knowing where everything was in relation to it, but Dakota was a walking computer, he knew exactly where they were going. Dakota seemed to lead Doofenshmirtz to every shortcut imaginable, and much sooner than Doofenshmirtz could imagine they were walking right up to Danville Park. Because they'd arrived so soon, Doofenshmirtz was sure that he would have time to gather himself before Perry the Platypus arrived, but to his surprise he saw that the agent was already waiting there for them.

"Perry the Platypus!" As nervous as Doofenshmirtz had been before, he felt perfectly fine now. He rushed to his old nemesis. Dakota walked slowly behind him, his hands in his pockets. "Oh, I got your card."

Perry the Platypus chattered. Dakota translated for him. "He's surprised you want to talk already."

"Well, I didn't want to," Doofenshmirtz admitted. "But Dakota showed me what you were doing."

Perry the Platypus' eyes widened for a moment before he narrowed them at Doofenshmirtz, glared at him. Doofenshmirtz didn't need a translation. He knew that glare very well. It wasn't nearly as common as his ' _you're up to something_ ' look, but Doofenshmirtz was still very familiar with Perry the Platypus' ' _you did something, what did you do?'_ look.

"What, no, don't give me that look, it's not my fault." Doofenshmirtz held up his hands defensively. He gestured to Dakota. "He showed me your bank records, without me asking, might I add." Perry the Platypus transferred his judging glare to Dakota. He chattered again.

"Look, I didn't do anything malicious with your information." Dakota said. "I literally just showed Doof exactly what you would have eventually shown him." Perry the Platypus' glare deepened. Dakota's eyes flashed as a look of irritation came to his eyes. "You sound like Cavendish. Why are you so focused on _what_ I did that you won't even listen to _why_ I did it?" Doofenshmirtz thought he understood where both of them were coming from. Dakota had looked into Perry the Platypus' personal information, which wasn't exactly legal, but he'd also done it with innocent enough intentions. He'd just been trying to help Doofenshmirtz.

"Don't take his judgemental glare personally," Doofenshmirtz said to Dakota. "He's that way with everyone." He then looked to Perry the Platypus. "And remember Dakota's a computer, you can't really lecture him about morals. It's not exactly in his programming." Doofenshmirtz froze, that little bit of knowledge that was sitting at the back of his mind was right there, ready for him to grab it.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute," Doofenshmirtz waved his arms slightly like he was trying to quiet Perry the Platypus and Dakota, even though neither of them were saying anything. "Programming, your programming, that's it!"

Perry the Platypus looked shocked and Dakota looked wary. "What about my programming?" Dakota asked, but Doofenshmirtz shushed him. He sat down on the ground and pulled out his laptop and notes. Doofenshmirtz quickly began to write things out. He was in such a rush that his handwriting would probably be illegible to anybody that wasn't him, but he had to get his thoughts written out before they escaped him again.

"Okay, earlier you said that it didn't matter what you wanted," Doofenshmirtz said, writing even as he talked out his thoughts. "You just cared about what Milo wanted." Dakota nodded in confirmation. "Maybe I missed something before, but you didn't seem like this before. You did things that Cavendish and Milo didn't like so much. You did things for yourself, right?"

Dakota thought for a second. "Huh, yeah, I guess I did. I mean, it was usually for their sake, but yeah, it was against their wishes anyways." There was a small difference, but a difference nonetheless, and in programming and coding, even a little difference could mean everything.

"You don't have any new coding," Doofenshmirtz looked at Dakota's programming on the laptop. "This could be because of one of the lines that were switched, changing priorities, but I don't think so,"

"Why not?" Dakota sat down on the ground next to Doofenshmirtz and looked over his shoulder at the coding.

"Because the bottom line of the new coding would be the top line of the old one," Doofenshmirtz said. "And while you used to be more independent, it was never your top priority."

"Definitely not," Dakota agreed.

"I bet that this if/then program is what's influencing your independence," Doofenshmirtz said. "This line won't apply unless certain conditions are met. In the old program, the condition wasn't needed, which would explain why you thought for yourself more and made your own decisions instead of just following the will of your host."

"Okay, I get that," Dakota nodded. "But how does knowing this help?"

"Now that I know what one line of coding says, I can figure out what everything else does," Doofenshmirtz said excitedly. "This is the key that I need to crack this code." Everything else would fall into place and make more sense, he was sure of it. "Once I know what your coding does, I can fix it using the language that fits the rest of the programming, and we can get you reprogrammed.

Doofenshmirtz still didn't know for sure if this was what Dakota wanted, but it seemed that even Dakota didn't know what he wanted right now. His programming wouldn't allow him to think for himself, which was exactly what Doofenshmirtz was trying to fix. He was determined to get this right, and hopefully he was able to figure out how to get Dakota's programming set up in a way that both Dakota and Milo were happy with.

Doofenshmirtz pulled out his coding books to use as reference. Maybe working in the park wasn't the most traditional thing to do, but it was most convenient for him at that moment. Doofenshmirtz worked best when he was motivated, and he had that drive right then and there. Going back to the Murphy house would take a few minutes, and he might lose his thought process and drive. Doofenshmirtz may be working unconventionally right now, but at least he was getting things done, and that was what mattered.

Doofenshmirtz smirked to himself as he looked at Dakota's coding as though he was seeing it for the first time. Finally, he'd be able to get some work done.

* * *

 **A/N:** **As frustrating as last chapter was, this one worked out a lot better, and thank goodness for that.**


	26. Chapter 26

Milo hated to admit it, and it made him feel incredibly guilty whenever he thought about it, but he was avoiding Dakota. Milo felt bad, because he knew that Dakota was still his friend, but everything that he did just felt off. Dakota's eyes didn't look the way that they should, his tone was slightly different, he seemed to not care about things that had been really important to him before. There were all these little things that felt wrong, and Milo didn't like to see it.

Though he was trying to avoid seeing Dakota, because he knew that he would just get upset to see his friend not acting like himself, and then Dakota might be hurt that Milo felt like he didn't know him anymore, Milo didn't forget about Dakota completely. Whenever Dakota went into sleep mode for the night, always at exactly 11:04, Milo would check in on Dr. Doofenshmirtz to see what progress had been made so far.

For the first few days, Dr. Doofenshmirtz didn't seem to get anywhere, and Milo was starting to wonder if this wasn't something that could be fixed. The thought that this was going to be permanent made Milo really nervous. He didn't want to lose Dakota completely, so maybe he should get to know this new version of his friend, but he was hesitant to do this. It felt like if he accepted that this Dakota was here to stay, then he would have to completely let go of the Dakota that he'd come to know.

It was all so complicated, and Milo felt like no matter what he did and what happened, they would all be hurt.

Finally though, Doofenshmirtz seemed to have some good news about Dakota's programming.

"Do you know anything about coding?" Doofenshmirtz asked as he grabbed about a dozen different books and notebooks. The shed was an absolute mess, but Doofenshmirtz seemed to know exactly where to find what he was looking for. He must have a method to his madness, even if the method only made sense to him.

"Not really," Milo admitted. "Me and computers don't really get along all that well," All technology mixed badly with Murphy's Law, but computers were especially prone to malfunctioning around them. Milo considered himself lucky that things had only now gone wrong.

"Well, every line of code serves a different function. It's what tells Dakota what to do and when," Dr. Doofenshmirtz said. He opened one of his notebooks and all but shoved it in Milo's face. "I think I reached a breakthrough. I was able to figure out what one of the lines said, and I can use it like a Rosetta Stone of Squip programming to translate what the others say."

"What does the line do?" Milo asked. It looked like just a bunch of random numbers, letters, and symbols to him.

"If I'm right, it basically tells Dakota when to think for himself and be selfish," Dr. Doofenshmirtz said. "Before the reboot, it would apply whenever he wanted it to, just like normal people, but now, if I'm reading the code right, it only happens when he thinks he's in danger."

"That's not fair." Milo frowned. He may try to not put his own desires above anybody else's, but he would hate not being able to be selfish unless he had permission. That just defeated the purpose. And though Dr. Doofenshmirtz said that Dakota had been like normal before, Milo didn't think he was. He remembered how Dakota had always done things that Milo had wanted, even if he didn't want it for himself.

Dakota may have been capable of thinking for himself, but he had felt like he hadn't been allowed to, so he still hadn't. Even when this was all fixed, would Dakota still feel like he could only do things if he was given permission? Milo had agreed to be Dakota's host and partner, and he would stick to that, but he really didn't want to be his boss or master. They were friends, they were supposed to be equals. That shouldn't be so hard.

"Can you undo it?" Milo asked stiffly.

"Oh, yeah," Doofenshmirtz said without hesitation. "All I have to do is make the condition invisible, and at least that part of him will be back to normal just as soon as he is rebooted again." This should be great news, Milo should be excited, but somehow he felt even worse.

Milo found himself unable to sleep at all that night. He just lay there on his bed staring at the ceiling for a few hours. Finally he couldn't take it anymore. He grabbed his phone and without thinking twice about it, he texted the first person he could think of.

 **To Amanda:** _you awake?_

Milo hadn't expected a reply, but a minute later he got a response.

 **From Amanda:** _No._

 **From Amanda:** _What's wrong?_

Milo bit his lip and glanced at the time. It was after one in the morning. Most people would be asleep, even if they didn't have school in the morning, but Amanda was very particular about her schedule. She insisted on getting exactly seven and a half hours of sleep every night, and she had a tendency to freak out when anything didn't go according to plan. She was doing her best to learn how to adapt, but Milo didn't want to push her too far.

However, he also really needed someone to talk to right now, even if just for a minute.

 **To Amanda:** _its nothng im fine_

 **To Amanda:** _go bak to slp we cn talk tomrrw_

Just seconds after Milo sent the message, his phone rang. Milo felt slightly guilty but mostly relieved to see Amanda's name. He answered his phone quickly, before his family could be woken up by the noise.

"Hey, Amanda," Milo said quietly.

"Just because we're texting doesn't mean you can forget about proper grammar," Amanda said quickly. Milo found himself smiling, feeling better just hearing her voice. He didn't even mind that she was basically lecturing him. It made everything feel more normal.

"You know that if I spend too long writing a message, my phone might explode," Milo said. "And sometimes even when I write things out, it changes itself. Remember that time I sent you a message of complete nonsense,"

"Oh, I remember," Amanda said, sounding tired at just the memory. "Milo, what's wrong?"

He sighed and leaned back against the headboard. "I don't know," He said. I just have this friend of mine who hasn't been acting like himself lately. I want him to go back to normal, because I don't think he's happy like he is, but now I don't even know if he was happy before either."

Amanda hummed quietly. "Has your friend said what he wants?"

"Not exactly," Milo frowned and brought his legs to his chest. "He says he wants whatever I want. I don't think he knows how to choose things like this for himself." Milo took a deep breath. "I don't want to force him to do anything, but I also just want my friend back."

"Oh, Milo," Amanda sounded sympathetic. "Have you talked to your friend about this?"

"Not really. I've been, well, avoiding him." Milo winced. He could just imagine the unimpressed look she would be giving him if they were talking face to face. "I know, I know I'm not being fair, it's just...it's really hard."

"I know that," Amanda said, and she really did sound understanding. "But don't you think it's really hard for your friend too?"

Milo was quiet for a moment. He hadn't given a lot of thought about how Dakota felt. Normally he would, but after the reboot, Dakota had been acting a lot more like other Squips, like a supercomputer. Dakota acted like he seemed to know exactly what Milo wanted, and maybe he did, but it was still unnerving to think about. Dakota had also been acting less emotional, it was so easy to believe that Dakota no longer felt any emotions at all, but that wasn't fair. Just because Milo didn't understand just how Dakota felt didn't mean that he wasn't feeling anything.

"I want to help him, but I really don't know how," Milo said.

"You could try asking him," Amanda said, like it was that simple, and maybe it was.

"Yeah, I probably should," Milo said. It was way past time that he tried to understand exactly what was going on with this version of Dakota. Milo glanced at the clock and winced. It was really late. "I should probably also let you get some sleep too."

"Are you sure you're alright?" Amanda asked. "I don't mind staying up a little later if you need to talk." Milo could hear the reluctance in her tone, but he knew that if he asked her, she would stay up and continue talking to him.

"I'm okay," Milo said. He felt a little better, at least good enough to get some sleep himself and properly talk to Dakota tomorrow.

"Well, if you're sure," Amanda said hesitantly. "You know you can call whenever you need something, no matter how late it is."

"I know," Milo smiled. "Thanks, Amanda,"

"I'll call you tomorrow," Amanda promised. "Goodnight,"

"Night," Milo muttered. He hung up and rubbed his eyes. He still felt a little conflicted, but it had calmed down that he realized just how exhausted he felt. He was ready to get some sleep. Milo lay down on his bed and finally let himself doze off.

Milo woke up a few hours later to the alarm on his phone going off. He didn't even remember setting it. Milo groaned and began fidgeting with his phone to try to turn off the alarm, or at least silence it, but it just wasn't cooperating. Finally the screen on his phone went staticy for a second before going completely black. His phone had turned off.

Well, at least the alarm had stopped.

Milo sat up and glanced at his window. It was morning, but still really early. Dakota was probably still in sleep mode. Milo knew that he could easily just wake him up, but he didn't quite feel ready to talk to him. He needed a little bit of time to gather his thoughts. Milo got out of his bed and decided to go out for a short walk around the block. It would probably take a little longer than it would for someone else, because of Murphy's Law, but it probably wouldn't be too bad.

While Milo had expected a delay, and was ready to account for it, things went a little overboard, even on Murphy's Law standards. Two hours later, Milo found himself wandering around the woods near town, barely knowing how he got here.

Milo looked around. He had a lot of experience in these woods, but he didn't recognize this particular area. Though he knew that he really should head home and talk to Dakota, he also wanted to explore. It was really good to keep at least a mental map of anywhere he could end up.

Milo decided that he could spare another half an hour to look around before heading back. Milo adjusted his backpack and set off. After walking for ten minutes, Milo realized that something was incredibly wrong. He was in the woods, the wild, and yet there was nothing wild about it. Milo hadn't been attacked by wild racoons or squirrells. He couldn't even hear a bird. This was really weird. Something was wrong.

Milo looked around, feeling a little nervous. Once he was aware that something was wrong, Milo noticed that a lot of the brush looked pulled back and ruined, like something had crashed through here. The dirt on the ground also looked really broken up. Milo hadn't noticed it before, as dirt always looked really chaotic and uneven, but this looked different.

Milo followed the dirt, wondering just what he was going to find. Milo walked for another few minutes before he saw a very familiar looking ship. This was the Octalian ship. They had crashed. Milo felt absolutely terrified. The Octalians may have abducted him, but he knew they hadn't meant any harm. He desperately hoped that none of the Octalians had been in that ship when it crashed. If anyone got hurt, it would have been because of issues caused by Murphy's Law. It would have been because of him.

Milo quickly ran to the ship. He rushed inside and froze when he nearly ran into a familiar face.

"Cavendish?" Milo stared at the man in shock. It had been so long since he'd seen Cavendish. Milo knew that he and Dakota had recently started working for a group that investigated aliens and other paranormal things, but it was still odd to see Cavendish in this crashed Octalian spaceship.

"Murphy?" Cavendish looked equally as shocked to see him. "What are you doing here?"

"I got lost," Milo looked around the ship. It didn't look like there were any Octalians around. "Is this where you've been hiding?"

"I'm not hiding," Cavendish huffed and crossed his arms. "I'm trying to accomplish some work here." Cavendish sounded as proud and stubborn as ever. Milo didn't know exactly what work Cavendish was doing here, and he didn't think he'd understand even if Cavendish explained it to him.

And hearing that Cavendish was working, Milo realized something incredibly wrong with that. He had no problem with Cavendish doing his own thing, except that he was here doing it by himself. Cavendish was supposed to be Dakota's partner, and yet Cavendish was here, and Dakota was back at Milo's place, completely different because of a reboot. A reboot that Milo suspected had something to do with Cavendish.

"What did you do to Dakota?" Milo asked. It came out more accusatory than he was comfortable with, but he couldn't help it. He was scared, he wanted his friend back, and he hated that Cavendish kept on hurting him..

"Dakota?" Cavendish's expression shifted to one of concern, though it quickly turned to a defensive look. "What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know," Milo said honestly. "He rebooted, and he's been acting weird ever since."

"Rebooted?" Cavendish looked alarmed. "When? Why?"

"I don't know why," Milo said. He told Cavendish the exact date that the reboot happened. Cavendish paled, a look of recognition in his eyes. Whatever had happened, Cavendish seemed to know about it. "What did you do?" Milo repeated.

"I...I only erased his memory," Cavendish said. Milo's eyes widened in alarm. _Only_ erased his memory? There was nothing _only_ about that. "It was just his short term memory, just a few hours worth."

"But why?" Milo asked.

"Things just weren't working out between us," Cavendish said. "We wanted different things, so I thought it would be for the best if we went our separate ways for a bit,"

"You didn't have to mess with Dakota's systems to do that," Milo said. Cavendish looked defensive again.

"Now wait just a moment, I did nothing of the sort," Cavendish said. "Dakota's had his memory wiped before, and it did no permanent damage to him. It didn't touch his systems."

"Well, something did," Milo said. "Because Dakota's programming has been changed, and it didn't happen on its own,"

"Why do you think I had anything to do with it?" Cavendish asked.

"Right after Dakota rebooted, he said he couldn't connect to you," Milo said. "He thought it was because of the same thing that caused the reboot."

"He couldn't connect," Cavendish muttered. He took off his hat and looked inside. "I...I just didn't want him to find me. I didn't think that it would do something like this,"

Milo felt chills go down his spine. "What did you do?" Milo wanted to ask it sternly, but his voice shook and was really quiet. He was scared to hear the answer. Cavendish grimaced and held out his hat. Confused, Milo looked inside. He didn't see anything at first, but then he saw something taped to the inside of the hat. Milo frowned and pulled it out. It took him a moment to recognize just what he was holding. "A...a magnet?"

Cavendish sighed. "Yes, a magnet," Milo looked at him in alarm. Mixing magnets with computers was just asking for trouble. How could Cavendish have knowingly put a magnet anywhere near his Squip? "I just...I didn't want our connection to get in either of our ways."

"You could have just asked him to back off," Milo said. While Dakota was protective of those he cared about, Milo knew that if it was so important to Cavendish that he did something on his own, Dakota would respect that.

"Yes, I know," Cavendish said regretfully. He put his hat back on. Cavendish sighed. "You said that Dakota's back at your place? And he's changed?" Milo nodded. "I want to see how he's doing,"

Milo didn't know exactly how either Cavendish or Dakota would react to seeing each other, but they really couldn't avoid each other forever. Milo knew that Cavendish and Dakota, while they didn't understand each other, they did care about each other.

"You might not like it," Milo warned. He knew that he certainly didn't like it.

"I don't care," Cavendish said stubbornly. "I need to know exactly what I did." Cavendish was trying to take responsibility for what he had done, and Milo really appreciated it. He hoped that Dakota appreciated the effort too.

Milo was a little worried that Cavendish showing up would ruin any progress that Dakota might have made, but he had to take this chance. Maybe if Cavendish saw just what he had done to Dakota, he would stop doing things that could hurt him.

* * *

 **A/N:** **I think this story's almost over. I've thought about covering the whole Octalian thing, complete with them going to Octalia, but I don't think it'll be necessary. It would probably happen in pretty much the exact same way in the show. I'm just going to finish up this whole rebooted Dakota arc, and that'll probably be the end of this story.**


	27. Chapter 27

After Doofenshmirtz had figured out what just one part of Dakota's coding meant, the rest of it seemed to click with him. Every day while he worked, Doofenshmirtz explained everything that he did to Dakota. While he was a Squip, Dakota didn't completely understand most of the things said to him. His mind seemed to get scrambled up when Doofenshmirtz showed him his programming directly. Squips weren't capable of understanding their own coding, it was just part of their programming. What was even harder to follow though was that half of what Doofenshmirtz was talking about had to do with emotions, and Dakota didn't quite understand that kind of thing, at least not now.

Dakota didn't say anything though. He just listened to what Doofenshmirtz said and appreciated that he was bothering to keep him in the loop at all. Doofenshmirtz didn't have to explain anything to Dakota. All he'd been asked to do was fix Dakota's coding. Dakota couldn't help with the code, and Doofenshmirtz was wasting time to explain things to him. Doofenshmirtz wasn't doing this because it was convenient and made things easier, he did it because he was treating Dakota like he was human. Doofenshmirtz really seemed to care about how he felt.

Doofenshmirtz wasn't the first person to behave like Dakota was human, but this felt different from what Milo or Cavendish did. Doofenshmirtz never forgot, not even for a moment, that Dakota was a supercomputer. It was refreshing.

"Alright, I think I've got this all figured out," Doofenshmirtz said. He showed his laptop to Dakota. He didn't exactly understand what the coding meant, but Dakota could tell that Doofenshmirtz had changed it to resemble the old coding, though there were still some differences.

"This'll fix me?" Dakota asked. He still didn't think there was anything to fix, but it was how Milo saw it. Milo was the only reason he was going through with this whole thing.

"You were never really broken," Doofenshmirtz said matter of factly, and though Dakota completely agreed, it was weird to hear someone else say it. "You know, if something is wrong with the coding, even just the smallest little thing, the program won't run at all. Your old coding might not have been normal Squip coding, but it worked, didn't it?" Dakota nodded. "By definition, that means there was nothing wrong with it. Same goes for your new coding."

Dakota grinned. "Yeah, I guess that's true," Maybe it didn't matter just what coding he had, as long as the program ran properly. "And you're sure this code will work?"

"Fairly sure," Doofenshmirtz looked it over. "I've double, triple, and quadruple checked it, and I haven't found any issues. If it doesn't run right, we can put in the old coding and try again."

"So let's do it," Dakota said. He didn't see the point of putting it off if they were ready.

"Just wait a minute," Doofenshmirtz said. "I want to tell you just what this programming will do, what it will mean for you."

Dakota frowned. He'd humored Doofenshmirtz when he'd insisted on walking Dakota through everything he did, but that had only been because Doofenshmirtz might work better and safer if he talked through his thoughts. There was no such advantage this time. "Why?"

"Because this coding will make you who you are." Doofenshmirtz gave him a cold look. "I think you should at least know who that will be."

"It doesn't matter to me," Dakota said, and it didn't.

"Well, it matters to me," Doofenshmirtz said. "And for the record, I wanted to run this by Milo and maybe Cavendish too."

Dakota felt a spark go through him as a strange dark feeling built up. "Milo, sure," If Milo didn't like what the changes meant, then they would change them again. "But not Cavendish."

Doofenshmirtz was taken aback. "Okay...why not?"

"Because…" Dakota blinked. He didn't actually know why. His whole purpose was to know and understand everything, and yet he didn't even know why doing this one thing was so important. "Because…"

Doofenshmirtz eyed Dakota curiously. "Because you see Cavendish as a threat to you,"

"What?" Dakota searched his databases, looking for anything that could explain just what Doofenshmirtz meant.

"You know that if/then part of the code?" Doofenshmirtz pointed it out on his laptop.

"The one you said had me thinking about myself," Dakota didn't know what it had to do with anything.

"Only if a specific condition was met," Doofenshmirtz said. "The condition being that you were in danger. It was supposed to be a failsafe. If there was something around that might be a threat to the Squip, protecting it, protecting yourself, would become your priority." Doofenshmirtz set aside the laptop and gave his full attention to Dakota. "You don't want Cavendish to have a say in your programming, because you see him as a threat,"

"A threat?" Dakota froze when he heard Cavendish's voice. He turned to see Milo and Cavendish standing in the doorway of the shed. Milo looked scared, and Cavendish...Dakota didn't want to know how he was feeling. He made a conscious decision to not understand Cavendish's feelings

Cavendish took a step towards Dakota, who automatically took a step back. Doofenshmirtz put a hand on Dakota's arm while Milo grabbed Cavendish's sleeve and pulled him back.

Cavendish stared at Dakota and then to Doofenshmirtz. "Why would you say that I'm a threat to Dakota? That is completely ridiculous. How could I possibly be a threat to him?"

Dakota had been wondering the same thing just moments before, but hearing Cavendish question it made that spark and dark feeling get even worse. "You tried to shut me down!" Dakota shouted. He saw Milo flinch and bring a hand to his head. Milo must feel this through their connection, which should be enough to get Dakota to calm himself down. He shouldn't be hurting Milo, and yet, at least at that moment, Dakota cared more about what was happening with Cavendish.

"I thought we'd agreed to move past that," Cavendish said.

"What we decided was to give each other a second chance," Dakota said. Cavendish had decided to trust him to not try to destroy humanity again, and Dakota had trusted him to not stab him in the back again. "And then you turned around and had me rebooted, and why?" Dakota opened up his connection to Cavendish again, for the first time since he'd been rebooted, and looked into exactly what Cavendish had done and why. Dakota didn't like what he found.

"No, you can't convince yourself that this was because of our own good," Dakota said angrily. That was the dark feeling that had hit him. He just hadn't recognized it for what it was because he'd been unaccustomed to emotions since his reboot. "Magnets, Cavendish?"

"I...I didn't know what it would do," Cavendish said quietly.

"And that excuses it?" Dakota glared at Cavendish.

"No, it doesn't," Milo put himself in front of Dakota. When Dakota didn't turn his attention away from Cavendish, Milo put his hands on Dakota's face and forced him to look at him. "It doesn't matter what reason Cavendish had, what he did wasn't fair to you." Milo bit his lip slightly. "What I did, what I've been doing, that wasn't fair to you either."

"I don't blame you for ignoring me," Dakota said.

"That's because you can't," Milo frowned at him. "Your programming forces you to put me first...and I took advantage of that, because it was easy."

"It's...it's okay, Milo," Dakota assured him. "Really, it's fine,"

"You're doing it again." Milo closed his eyes, looking pained. "You're putting what I want ahead of what you need."

"I...I _want_ to," Dakota said. Milo looked at him in shock. "Being selfish, protecting myself, it...it hurts," Dakota lifted his gaze to look at Cavendish, who was watching him quietly. Dakota stared at him for a moment before he had to look away and turn his attention back to Milo. "I want to protect you. It hurts a lot less."

"Interesting," Doofenshmirtz looked at Dakota curiously. "Your programming is allowing you to be selfish, to do what you want, and what you want is to make Milo happy." Dakota nodded. "That's actually really good to know," Doofenshmirtz frantically began to type away on his laptop. "See, this is why I wanted you guys to look at the coding before I just put it in."

"The coding? You're done with it?" Milo grinned and went to look at the coding behind Doofenshmirtz' shoulders, but he stopped himself before he got too close. He didn't want to tempt Murphy's Law to mess with something so important.

"Almost," Doofenshmirtz said. "I'm just turning some things around," Doofenshmirtz glanced at them before turning back to his work. "The way I wrote it out, the if/then statement, the one about your independence, was close to the top, though I got rid of the condition. If what you want is to put Milo first, then I'll put your independence line just under the line that tells you to be loyal to your hosts."

"That's a line?" Dakota asked. He supposed it made sense, it just wasn't one that he'd heard about, which was strange, since Doofenshmirtz had been telling him all about his coding as he worked. "It's not the top or bottom lines that switched places,"

"Oh, no," Doofenshmirtz waved off his comment. "The lines that were switched made you act human and worry about people who weren't your host."

"What?" Milo frowned. "Which one used to be on top? You know, before the reboot?"

"Uh…" Doofenshmirtz looked over his notes. "Acting human. I put it back on top for this code because I figured that was what gave him emotions. Acting human made him feel more human."

"So concern for civilizations was the bottom of his priorities," Cavendish crossed his arms, though he looked more confused and interested than upset and angry. "That makes sense,"

"It kinda does," Milo looked at Dakota. "You remember how you got mad at me when I put myself in danger to save other people?"

"I remember," Dakota nodded. He hadn't been able to understand Milo's reasoning at all. He'd been capable of caring about others, as that was how he'd become fond of Milo in the first place, but it wouldn't have happened when it conflicted with his previous coding, like when Milo put himself in danger for the sake of others. "Is that line going back on the problem?"

"I put it a little higher up," Doofenshmirtz said. "I had to rearrange a lot of the programming, so you're not going to go back to being the exact same as you were before, but it should be pretty close. The only way to know for sure is to test it out," Doofenshmirtz finished up the coding. He pushed the laptop towards Dakota. "You just have to download the updated programming then reboot again to activate it."

Dakota nodded. He didn't hesitate for one moment to put his hand near the laptop ports and download Doofenshmirtz' code. He was going to reboot right away, before he could get upset again and change his mind, but he froze when Milo quickly embraced him.

"You'll be back, right?" Milo asked.

"I'm not just going to leave you, kid," Dakota said. That was one thing he was completely sure about. At the moment, he was still on the fence about Cavendish. Dakota still cared about Cavendish and felt connected to him, but his partner had hurt him again, and Dakota's feelings were too raw at the moment for him to want to give Cavendish another chance. All of his anger and hurt was an automatic, defensive reaction. When Dakota's emotions were no longer acting like a defense mechanism, he might feel different about giving Cavendish another chance.

"I'm not going to leave you either," Milo promised as he tightened the embrace. "Not this time. Even if you're a completely different person. I'm not going to run away from you again,"

"You're a better person than I ever could be, Milo," Dakota said. The kid was so willing to learn from his mistakes, even when those mistakes were things that nobody was going to hold against him. Dakota pulled away from Milo and made eye contact with Cavendish. "Don't expect me to forgive you right away,"

"I'm not asking you to forgive me at all," Cavendish said. Dakota finally allowed himself to really connect to how Cavendish was feeling, and he could tell that his old partner was sincerely apologetic. Maybe he was willing to change, but Dakota would have to see if that would really stick.

Dakota looked at Doofenshmirtz. "I hope you haven't gotten sick of me. I'll probably need someone like you to make sure that my programming is up to code,"

"Oh, I'm not letting anybody else touch your coding," Doofenshmirtz said proudly. "I still have a lot of things I want to learn about supercomputers. You owe me some explanations."

Dakota grinned. "I'm all yours." Doofenshmirtz had dedicated so much time and work into reprogramming him. He'd gone above and beyond what Milo had asked. The very least that Dakota could do was answer his questions.

Dakota closed his eyes. He was ready for this. Dakota had never rebooted his own systems before, but he instinctively knew how to do it. All he had to do was basically push a mental button. Dakota saw his form flicker once and he was reminded of when Cavendish had shut him down, except it didn't hurt at all. If anything, it felt a little refreshing, like just before he slipped into sleep mode.

All of a sudden, all of Dakota's senses, including his connections to Milo and Cavendish, went away. The last thing Dakota was aware of was a voice that was nearly his own, but not quite.

' _ **SYSTEM REBOOTING.'**_

* * *

 **A/N:** **I feel a little cruel here, as this chapter doesn't exactly tie things up really well, but I think this chapter is going to be the last chapter of this story. It just feels like a natural ending. I could show how Dakota's new programming effects him, and tackle him and Cavendish kinda making up, except I already did both of those things earlier in the story. I don't want to get repetitive, and I also really wanted to leave a mystery about Dakota's new programming. For this particular story, I wanted to leave the ending a little open.**

 **I've enjoyed writing this story, but I think I'll probably go back to writing one-shots when it comes to Milo Murphy's Law. I even have a one-shot in mind that will provide exactly what this story is missing so much of: Cavendish being loyal to Dakota.**


End file.
